Ira (b. Isaac) W. Packard (1844-1927) was born in Shelburn, Massachusetts, and died in South Pasadena, California. He worked as a grain buyer and was a veteran of the American Civil War, serving in the Union Army as Private in Company I of the 18th Regiment, Michigan Infantry. He married Mary A. Packard (b. Penfield) in Ohio in 1870. They purchased their first copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures while visiting Santa Barbara, California, in 1885. They both studied with Joseph A. Adams and Ellen Brown Linscott in November 1886. The Packards were students of Mary Baker Eddy's, completing the Primary class together in September 1888 and becoming members of the Christian Scientist Association in October 1888. They both joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 6, 1895. The Packards became members of the General Association of Teachers in October 1904, and they were also members of the National Christian Scientist Association. Packard served as First Reader and was a Trustee of Third Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago, Illinois. He wrote to Eddy on January 10, 1906, explaining that it was difficult to "provide for unity of action" among the Chicago branch churches, given that conferences were forbidden. Eddy responded by amending the By-Law to allow for conferences aimed to further unity of action. The "Local Self-government" By-Law was adopted January 19, 1906, and first appeared in the 53rd edition of the Church Manual. In 1909, the Packards left Chicago and ended up in Los Angeles, California, where they continued to help advance the cause. Packard was listed in the directory of The Christian Science Journal as a Christian Science practitioner and teacher in Chicago (beginning in 1899), Los Angeles (beginning in 1914), and in South Pasadena, California (beginning in 1917) until his passing.

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