LONGTIME EDUCATOR KENNETT ORR DIES

HIS CAREER as teacher, assistant principal and adviser in Roanoke County and Salem spanned nearly 40 years. And Catawba folk remember him as a friend and neighbor you could always depend upon.

A former Roanoke County assistant principal and Montgomery County livestock farmer died Thursday January, 7, 1997 at his home in Catawba Valley.

Kennett Eugene Orr, 74, had what his son, Kennett R. Orr, said was probably a massive heart attack while at home with his wife, Leslie Ann Fringer Orr.

Orr was assistant principal at A.R. Burton Technical Center and school adviser for the Vocational Industrial Club of America for eight years until his retirement in 1985. His career in education spanned 40 years, more than 26 of them in Roanoke County, said Marty Robison, assistant school superintendent.

Before moving to the Roanoke area, Orr taught in Smyth and Bland counties. He received his degrees from Emory & Henry College and Virginia Tech.

Orr became a vocational education teacher at Andrew Lewis High School in 1958. He moved to Northside High in 1960, where he was assistant principal until he transferred to A.R. Burton in 1978, Robison said.

"He had such an easygoing manner that students and teachers took him in. They had a lot of respect for him," said Garland Kidd, Roanoke County director of vocational and adult education. "He was easy to communicate with, very much a people person."

"You never saw him mad. I remember stories he would tell, like having two students in his office ready to fight. He would talk to them, and by the time they left they would be best buddies," his son said. "Everywhere he went, he knew people. He would talk to anyone. Sometimes you'd be there an hour or two."

A career as an educator was just one part of Orr's life and service to the community. He also pursued many varied interests.

In 1955, he bought a 700-acre farm in Montgomery County where he and his wife raised cattle and sheep. Most of the livestock went to stockyards, although for a time Orr sold sheep to a group of people whose religion allowed them to eat only lamb, his son said.

Orr was a Scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts for about 40 years, even though he was never a Boy Scout in his youth, and was recognized twice with leadership awards, his son said. He was also a charter member and one-time president of the Catawba Ruritan Club, a Sunday school teacher for 25 years and a lifetime member of the Catawba Volunteer fire department, where he was a firefighter, secretary and treasurer.

"He was always available. I always felt if I needed someone Gene would be there" said June Keffer, former owner of the Catawba General Store. "He was just a good friend and neighbor to anybody."

https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1997/rt9701/970111/01130047.htm