Irene A. McGowan Muhammad was born January 6, 1937, in Mobile, Alabama. She was the sixth of ten children born to Thomas and Elizabeth King. She was educated in Mobile, Alabama.

She met Thomas McGowan Sr. in Mobile, Alabama, and married in 1958. Two sons were born from this union, Thomas McGowan Jr. and Gordon McGowan Sr.

Thomas and Irene decided to relocate to Cleveland, Ohio, in hopes of a better life for their family. While in Cleveland, they were invited by a friend and member of the Nation of Islam to attend a meeting at Muhammad’s Mosque No. 18 in 1962, where they joined and lived their lives as Muslims.

She worked in the dry-cleaning business as a press operator. She loved to cook and sew.

One of her favorite memories was when my brother and I were playing with the children in our neighborhood after we had recently moved here from Mobile, where the children in Mobile called their mothers by their first names. My brother and I noticed that the children here in Cleveland called their mothers “Mama.” So, when we came home, we asked, “Irene, can we call you Mama?” She laughed and said yes. She has been “Mama” for over sixty years.

Irene was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas McGowan Sr.; her parents, Thomas and Elizabeth King; her sisters, Mary Garbert, Lilian Thomas, Marion King, Josephine Powell, and Dorothy Bell; her brothers, Thomas King Jr. and William King; nephew Ronald Bell Sr.; and niece Crechero Powell.

Irene is survived by her sons, Thomas and Gordon McGowan; her sister, Florence King; and brother, Alvin King; her grandchildren, Donay and Dajanee (Twins), Gordon McGowan Jr., Janice McGowan, and Amir McGowan; and a host of nieces and nephews and friends.