Obituary

A private family service will be held for Richard Orr, 71, of Edmonson. His cremains will be scattered across his wife's grave at Parklawn Memorial Gardens in Plainview. Mr. Orr died suddenly at his home on Thursday, April 24, 2008. He was born Jan. 7, 1937, in South Bend, Ind. He attended Catholic schools in Chicago and Joliet, Ill., graduating in 1968 from Lewis University in Lockport, Ill., where he majored in English and minored in science. After graduation, he lived in California, Maine, Wisconsin and Minnesota. He moved to Texas in 1975 and went to work for the Plainview Daily Herald in October of that year as a crime reporter, court reporter, local government reporter, feature writer and, later, a columnist. He left the Herald in August 1976 and worked for newspapers in Lubbock, Odessa, San Angelo and Midland before returning to The Herald in August 1984. He took early retirement in June 2000. He married Jean Sterns of Plainview on May 12, 1984, in Midland. She died Aug. 26, 2000, following a lengthy illness. Survivors include one son, Steve Orr of Southaven, Miss.; a daughter, Sheri Parish, also of Southhaven; a brother, Jim Orr of Fountain Valley, Calif.; two sisters, Pat Hansen of North Olmstead, Ohio, and Marcia Mudron of Mokena, Ill.; five grandchildren; one great-grandson; and several nieces and nephews. His parents and a brother, Tom Orr of Joliet, preceded him in death. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Plainview Humane Society.