Former Official Of Irrigation District Dies Funeral services were held Saturday afternoon in the Fowler Funeral Chapel for Ira L. Mason, 84, superintendent of the Consolidated Irrigation District for n many years. He died i in a Fowler convalescent home Friday, September 28, after a brief illness. Mr. Mason, a native of Iowa, arrived with his family on an immigrant train at the present site of Fowler in 1887. He had lived in this area for 79 of his 84 years. He was superintendent of the Consolidated Irrigation District from 1927 to 1946 when he retired. After his retirement Mr. Mason became a well known flower fancier and amateur artist. He raised gladiolus and later geraniums at the Selma Gladiolus Gardens on Manning Avenue for several years. At the age of 80 he took up painting and became known favorably as a painter of the primitive style. Mr. Mason had been a member of the Selma First Christian Church since 1927. Before moving to Selma Mr. Mason surveyed and developed the Patterson Irrigation District and later farmed in the Kerman and Conejo Districts. As a child he was a member of the first class in the old Iowa School on Dinuba Avenue. Surviving relatives include a son Wilton T. of Portland, Ore.; two daughters, Mrs. Louise Vanderwilt of Upland, San Bernardino County, and Mrs. Elsie Gregory of Fresno; three brothers, Harvey F. of Los Angeles, Walter F. and Chester S. of Selma; two sisters, Mrs. Maud Bishop of Fresno and Mrs. Myrtle Darling of Fowler; 15 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
