Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412080038
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And following his death on Monday, his epitaph seemed to come naturally.
"He could blow that horn," said his daughter, Susie Greene.
The 73-year-old Roanoke man had blown his horn for eight American presidents - from Truman to Reagan - as the lead trumpet player in a Washington, D.C., orchestra.
A product of the big-band era, Orr whiled away the hours in his Franklin Road Southwest home listening to his many tapes and records. His pipe was always nearby - and so was his trumpet.
"Music was his life," Greene said.
Even after he was diagnosed with lung cancer in September, he wanted to keep on playing. In October, he carried his trumpet to the Fall Ball put on by the Kazim Temple.
After playing for a while, his once powerful lungs gave out.
"No more," he told his daughter Nancy Routson. He was so tired that she had to carry his trumpet.
"He said he wasn't playing up to the standards that he had set for himself," she said. "He didn't have the strength and power."
That was quite an admission for the smallish man with the booming voice, whose excitement for his music often could be seen in his eyes.
"A lot of times when he played, he kind of snapped his fingers and tapped his feet," Green said. "He had a lot of power."
In those younger days, he had dedicated songs to his daughters - "Daddy's Little Girl" for Susie, "Nancy With The Smiling Face" for Nancy, and "Julie" for his youngest daughter.
As he played with the orchestra, he often came out front for a solo as the dance hall lights gleamed off his balding head.
At his house Wednesday, the music had stopped, his chair was empty, and the enticing aroma of his favorite pipe tobacco was absent.
"It's real different," said Julie Bates, his youngest daughter, who remembered his laughter when they recently watched his favorite Victor Borge video.
Music was part of his life until the end. As he neared death Monday, Susie Greene played a cassette tape for him: "Amazing Grace" - played on a trumpet.
by CNB