Dan Irving

About Dan Irving

Dan Irving is a sixth-generation San Franciscan. He attended a parochial high school; where he promoted dances and small rock concerts and had his own light show company. While attending his Senior Graduation Night at Disneyland, he and a friend were arrested for disembarking off the Pirates of the Caribbean boat ride and onto one of the sets. Both spent the rest of their Grad Night in the so-called Disneyland Jail.

After high school, Dan worked in an Italian restaurant delivering pizzas and attended the local junior college. He continued to sponsor rock concerts and leased the local fairgrounds for large shows with Bay Area headliners such as Tower of Power and Elvin Bishop. Two years later, Dan followed his Disneyland cellmate to Birmingham, England and became involved in social work for Community Concern where he helped move indigent families from one tenement complex to another. He mostly enjoyed driving the organizations lorries (large trucks) throughout England and Scotland on the wrong side of the road—until he got one stuck in a worn underpass. Other tasks included helping the locals and their children build unconventional playgrounds in the slum areas. Building materials included whatever his team could get their hands on in order to piece together ladders to nowhere, tunnels, bridges, tire swings, and forts in an empty lot.

During this time, Dan also became involved with the West Midlands Gypsy Liaison, where he and a friend were dubbed "The Yanks." Their assigned tasks included intervening in Gypsy evictions whenever local officials hired thugs to enforce their local laws. The interventions attracted the local and national news media and “The Yanks” were arrested and slated for deportation. On the day of their deportation, an anonymous member of the Royal Family contacted the arresting police department and demanded their immediate release. Come to find out, the Midland Gypsy Liaison was a charity organization under the umbrella of the Queen Mother. The arrest and deportation of two Americans would have caused a small scandal for the Royal Family. “The Yanks” were released and given royal permission to stay.

Shortly thereafter, Dan and his backpack traveled through Spain, France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. While in Switzerland, Dan couldn’t wait to climb one of its snow-covered peaks. He was an experienced climber with no gear, but chose to proceed without it. By the time he made it to the peak’s top it was nightfall, so he decided to make his descent by sitting and sliding down the steep terrain. Swiss climbers with headlamps met “The Crazy American” on the downhill slide, but after being assured Dan didn’t need to be rescued, they all made their way to the nearest Chalet and spent the evening drinking wine and swapping stories.

Upon returning to the states, Dan graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. He married and went to work in a family business brokerage in San Francisco where he negotiated, financed and sold close to 500 businesses. Along the way, he studied martial arts (karate & kobudo), owned a karate school and earned his 6th-degree black belt.

Dan and his wife later moved to Chico to raise their family, and establish a business brokerage office and purchased a Baskin-Robbins franchise. When he retired at the age of 55, he became involved in building homes for the poor in Mexico and South Africa. A student of South African history, Dan also had a radio talk show in Johannesburg (Rainbow FM 90.7) where he spoke on sensitive issues that included US politics, sports, religion and South African history including apartheid.

Dan has sat on numerous Boards, including one which feeds the homeless in his community, and served on the Federal Grand Jury as a foreperson. More recently, he was voted Volunteer of the Year at the North State Boys and Girls Club for his work with children in the area of reading and writing. He is a certified business counselor for SCORE and gives business advice on a regular basis.

It is Dan’s hope that the publication of ‘Heart of the Poppy’ will inspire more groups and young people to get out of their comfort zone, travel to a third world country, and provide needed services while having the adventure of a lifetime.