Dr. Irma King Lindsey Pirtle, 78, passed from this life, on May 3, 2020, at her residence at Redstone Village in Huntsville, Alabama. She was the wife and scientific colleague of her husband, Dr. Robert Myles Pirtle. They happily shared 51 years of marriage.
Irma was born November 14, 1941, in Barber Hospital, Butler, Alabama to her parents, Woodrow Wilson Lindsey and Alma Isabelle Barr Lindsey. She lived out her childhood in Jachin, Alabama, graduating from Choctaw County High School in 1960. Irma attended the University of Alabama, obtaining a B.S. degree in Chemistry, and continued her graduate work at the University of Louisville, where she received a Ph.D. degree in Analytical Chemistry.
She is survived by her husband, Robert; her sisters, Alma Lindsey Mitchell (Jerry), Athens, AL; Linda Lindsey Peek (Marvin), Trussville, AL; her nieces, Stephanie Mitchell Robertson (James), Madison, AL; Sandra Peek Ulishney (Adam), Garner, NC; her nephews, David Mitchell (Nicole), Huntsville, AL; Stephen Peek (Maria), Norfolk, VA; her great nieces, Elizabeth Robertson, Katerina Peek, Anastasia Peek; her great nephews, Colton Ulishney and Justin Ulishney. She was preceded in death by her parents.
Irma had a National Institutes of Health Fellowship, sponsored by Brookhaven National Laboratories, when she worked at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Later, she and her husband, Robert, moved to the University of North Texas, Denton Texas, where they ran a “Ma and Pa” research lab for 32 years. Together, they published numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles, and had many federal, State of Texas, and private foundation research grants. They graduated about 20 Ph.D. students and about 10 M.S. students in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Genetic Engineering. The Pirtles gave many scientific presentations at national and international conferences, traveling to the Netherlands, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Germany, England, Israel, and Canada at invited international conferences. They worked together in New York and Texas over 41 years.
After cremation, a private memorial service for Dr. Pirtle will be held.
