‘Dad is definitely the glue that keeps our bond together’

When Chuck Irving divorced, he faced an uncertain future, but he knew this about his children:

"I wanted them to enjoy life, and I wanted to be a part of it. They deserved a childhood."

The youngest of his four daughters, Kristen, who was still in a stroller at the time of her parents' divorce, graduated this month from Freeman High School in Henrico County.

Now, Irving faces another change in his life: an empty house. After years of having Kristen living with him, she's leaving for college.

He won't be alone, though. He still has his two Jack Russell terriers, and the other girls -- all of whom have lived with him at one time or another through the years -- routinely come by for visits, or to do their laundry.

"But they bring their own detergent," Irving said with a laugh.

Lauren, 25, recently moved to Jacksonville, Fla.; Peyton, 23, is pursuing a master's degree in elementary education at Virginia Commonwealth University; Heather, 20, is in nursing school at VCU; and Kristen, 18, will attend Virginia Tech.

"We've always done things," said Irving, 54, a siding contractor who was a baseball standout at Freeman High in the 1970s, pitched for Wake Forest University and then rose as high as Triple-A in the Detroit Tigers organization. "We've had fun."

They go boating out of Colonial Harbor Marina in Lanexa many weekends, and they spend time on the Outer Banks. Busch Gardens, bowling and birthday parties have been regular items on their agenda.

Irving has coached his daughters' softball teams and attended as many school events as he could, including accompanying them on out-of-town trips. He hosted sleepovers for their friends, always followed by Krispy Kreme doughnuts the next morning (although, he acknowledges, by the time he handed the box over to the girls, there were usually "a few missing"). They laugh a lot.

"Dad is definitely the glue that keeps our bond together," Lauren said. "His fun-loving personality, his hysterical sense of humor, his energy and charisma -- those are the things that make us want to be around him all the time, and in turn, we all want to be around each other."

When things are not fun, their father is also there, Peyton said.

"He is always there for us when something goes wrong," she said. "Probably every other day, one of us calls him with a problem."

A piece of advice Irving is adamant about impressing upon his daughters is to never stay angry at one another. Anytime there's a quarrel among the sisters, he's on the phone ordering them to make up -- now. He's felt this way since his brother, Michael, died suddenly almost 20 years ago.

"If they get in a feud, I tell them to settle it real quick because tomorrow might never come," he said.

He's proud of how his daughters have turned out: outgoing, independent and very close.

"I feel like we've accomplished a lot," he said. "Everybody's worked together. It could have been worse. We could have been separated from each other, but we didn't do that. We came together."

Contact Bill Lohmann at (804) 649-6639 or .