It is with great sorrow that the passing of Garry Orr is announced. Garry was born and raised in Unity, Saskatchewan as the fourth of five children of Lyle and Dorothy Orr. He spent much of his life there, but in recent years, he resided and worked in the Northwest Territories. Garry loved life and filled his days to the fullest from start to finish. He married at the age of 17 and was a father of three at 21, grandfather to the first of his five grandchildren at 37, and great-grandfather at 62.
In his younger years, he worked as an assistant for a veterinarian, then at CN Rail. He later earned his pilot's license and ran his own crop spraying company. More recently, he worked in autobody in Norman Wells, Northwest Territories. In between those benchmark moments, he farmed, operated his own small sawmill, worked on a tugboat on the Mackenzie River.
In his free time, he played the guitar, fished, boated, gardened, cooked, took photographs, read, studied creative writing, wrote short stories. Neither of those lists is exhaustive, and they only form a faded snapshot of a man who loved life and lived it with fierce determination to get the most out of each day and each experience. He was warm-hearted, funny, patient, resilient, charming, and generous. In some ways he was a paradox: he lived for tomorrow because tomorrow was always going to be the better day and the next adventure was always going to be the greater experience, yet he was so firmly present in every moment, never letting a minute slip by unfilled.
On one memorable occasion when he was flying a spray plane for the government, he had to seek emergency dental help in Mayo, Yukon. He was disconcerted when the person responding to the nurse's call was a man in a muscle shirt with a monkey on his shoulder. The treatment included whiskey and a hammer while the monkey jumped on rusting instruments. If it were anyone else telling of this encounter, listeners might suspect exaggeration, but in Garry's world, it was almost de rigueur - of course there was a monkey at his dental appointment in the Yukon. People often try to alleviate the grief of the passing of an older person by saying such things as he had a good innings, and we should be grateful for that. This is true, to be sure, but there is also another expression: losing an elderly person is like losing a library. It is proper to take time to grieve and show respect for the passage of a lifetime of accumulated experience from the world. It seems almost unfathomable that a person with such joy of living has been taken by a cruel disease exacerbated by circumstance, but there is solace in knowing that he is now at peace in eternity.
Garry's passing is deeply grieved by many friends and family, particularly his three children, Kelly, Kevin and Tracey and their families, and his two adoring sisters, Donna and Linda and their families. Thank you for having been, Dad. You are loved, respected and appreciated, always and forever. Please join the family for a celebration of remembrance at the Unity Museum Grounds, Adanac Hall at 1:30PM Saturday, March 22. Donations in memory of Garry can be directed to SaskAbilities (). Cards may be mailed to: Orr family, 511 Bate Crescent, Saskatoon, S7H 3A6.
