In Memory

Allen William Orr

April 15, 1971 to March 23, 1999

Allen William Orr was a healthy and happy young man who was enjoying a successful family life and career as an educator.

He was born and raised in Deming, NM and attended college at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, NM where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1993 and his master’s degree in 1999.

On September 4, 1993 he married Erica Nicole Kuhn who was also a graduate of ENMU and educator. That year they both began teaching school at Morton Elementary School in Morton, TX.

Allen taught 5th grade and Nikki taught kindergarten. They lived and worked there for 5 years before moving to Texhoma, TX in the summer of 1998.

At their new positions in Texhoma, Allen was the principal at Texhoma Elementary School and Nikki was in charge of developing their new preschool program.

Allen loved his job as an administrator, and in the spring as the superintendent of the school district moved to another job, the school board appointed Allen to serve as interim superintendent for the remainder of the school year. He was planning to apply to keep that position.

Allen was the type of person who enjoyed people and had fun with whatever he was doing. He was always a joy to be around! He grew up loving music and liked to play his saxophone and the piano.

He and Nikki were quite the travelers and have traveled all around the country. They were known for surprise trips, such as the time they drove for 24 hours from Morton, TX to get to our Mom’s reunion in Nashville, TN and join the family that was there for a day before heading back to their home.

They were also the world’s greatest coffee connoisseurs and big fans of Starbucks coffee. Every summer our family gathers in the New Mexico mountains at Ruidoso and Allen and Nikki made sure we visited all the gourmet coffee shops.

Allen also was the first to start the rounds of family card games at any gatherings. Allen loved his wife and family very much and I believe it is safe to say he lived life to its fullest.

In March, Allen and Nikki traveled to San Francisco, CA to attend some educational meetings for a week. Allen had a cold early in the week, but toward the end of the week was feeling better. He and his wife were even able to do a little sightseeing on Friday.

Then early Saturday morning on March 20, about 4am, his eardrum burst and they took a cab to the nearest hospital. By 6am his condition was serious and doctors began treating him. He had bacterial meningitis and the infection was diagnosed as beta hemolytic streptococcus. 

By about 8am Allen had slipped into a coma. Doctors said the bacteria was fast acting and spread rapidly through his body once his eardrum ruptured. Our parents flew to San Francisco and stayed at the hospital with Nikki.

Allen did not respond to any treatment and he was being kept alive on life  support.  After three days of tests and waiting, on Tuesday, March 23, it was decided to remove the life support and let his body die. Our Allen, who we all love, had gone on to Heaven. It is so hard to believe that he could be taken from us so quickly.

Nikki had signed the papers to approve the transplant of Allen’s organs and the doctors were able to find recipients for his heart and kidneys. Each of the three
recipients had been very ill and with Allen’s gift of life are now reported to be
doing well. One day we may be able to meet the recipients and their families.

Allen is survived by his wife Nikki, his parents Cleveland and Joyce, a brother
Doss with his family Bonnie and Destiny, a sister Della with her family Mike and Taylor, and many other relatives.

Our family gathered with relatives and friends in Texhoma for Allen’s memorial service on March 27. Nikki had planned a beautiful and meaningful service which was a wonderful tribute to Allen.

The town of Texhoma and Allen and Nikki's church home at First Christian Church have shown tremendous support during this time and it was incredible to see how well known and loved Allen was in his community.

The town of Texhoma and Allen and Nikki's church home at First Christian Church have shown tremendous support during this time and it was incredible to see how well known and loved Allen was in his community.

There have been poems and songs written about him, trees planted in his memory, a scholarship fund started in his honor, and many more loving memorials. Included below are a poem written about Allen which a student read at his memorial service and an article which appeared in the newspaper about his scholarship.

These give just a glimpse to what a wonderful, talented and happy person Allen was. He was a loving husband, son, and brother, and a friend to many.

We have so much to celebrate about Allen’s life, but there will always be an empty place in our family where he is supposed to be.

Allen, we love you and miss you and will rejoice to see you again in Heaven!  You ran a good race my brother, and will always be an inspiration to us all!

To contact Allen's family, click here mstephenson@tamu.edu

 

A SPECIAL POEM FOR ALLEN

 

Dear Mr. Orr,

We just wanted to tell you, we miss you so much,

And thank you for blessing our lives with your touch.

Not a day will go by that we won’t think of you,

But they tell us that someday we won’t be so blue.

With your coffee, your smile, and your Looney Tune ties, 

Each one of your visits was a pleasant surprise.

We can still see you here, outside in the hall,

Standing far above the ones that are small.

We thank you for bringing Ms. Nikki to us,

And for always being there to drive our bus.

We thank you for greeting us at the school,

And even for helping us to tie our shoe.

When we think of your big ol’ teddy bear face,

We know in our hearts there is no one that can take your place.

While we can’t understand why God took you away,

We can’t wait `til we see you again one day.

Don’t worry `bout Ms. Nikki, though we know she’s quite sad,

We’ll take good care of her, we can promise you that.

We want you to be proud, so we’ll all do our best,

As we read all our books, and take all our tests.

We guess we should go now, we have learning to do,

Please watch us from Heaven, `cause we sure miss you!!

Love,

All your kids at T.E.S.

 

SCHOLARSHIP IN HONOR OF TEACHER, Deming Headlight, April 15, 1999The Deming Education Association will administer a scholarship in the memory of a 1989 Deming High School graduate who died recently of bacterial meningitis. The association, acting on a proposal by Vicki Chavez, decided April 7 to honor Allen William Orr, who was the son of retired Deming teachers Joyce and Cleveland Orr. As trustees of the scholarship, the association will choose the recipients and decide whether to renew scholarships.

Orr, 27, died in San Francisco while attending educational meetings. He had already taught fifth grade for five years at Morton Elementary School in Morton, Texas, and was currently principal of Texhoma Elementary School in Texhoma, Texas. The Texhoma School Board had recently appointed him interim superintendent for the remainder of this year.

An account, the Allen William Orr Scholarship Fund, has been set up at First New Mexico Bank, and contributions to this fund may be mailed to First New Mexico Bank, PO Box 511, Deming NM 88031. In his eulogy, the departing superintendent said that Orr, in his brief career had "dedicated his life to education." While attending Eastern New Mexico University, he taught a second grade Sunday school class and also worked part time in ENMU's Child Development Lab. Orr was to have received his master's degree in school administration from ENMU, an award that will now be made posthumously.

Several poems were written about Orr, one of them included in the memorial service program, and one read by a student at the service. A song was written by longtime friend Ted Newman. The custodian asked if he could sing a song at the memorial service "for his buddy" and sang One Day at a Time.

Since 1994, Orr and his wife, Erica Nicole, had worked part time during the summer months for Johns Hopkins University. They traveled to several states to train groups of teachers to use John Hopkins' "Success for All" reading and social studies programs. Orr and his wife had been selected and trained by Johns Hopkins to do this because of their use of the programs in their own classrooms at Morton Elementary.

At Deming High School, Orr was a member of the National Honor Society and the Drama Club, which that year presented "Of Thee I Sing." Band director Albert Valverde remembers him as "very well loved, a good guy." He played both the alto and baritone saxophone. He continued to enjoy music, and he played the sax at home for his own enjoyment and occasionally at school for teacher talent shows. The daughter of the band director at Texhoma High played "Amazing Grace" on the saxophone at the memorial service.

The 1989 Deming High School yearbook lists his activities as a member of the marching, jazz and all-state bands, as treasurer of the National Honor Society and as a DHS golfer in his junior year.

Orr was an organ donor, a 52-year-old Arizona father of three receiving his heart, and a 40-year-old and a 42-year-old receiving his kidneys. Vicki Chavez and other organizers hope the fund will be large enough that the interest from it will allow the scholarship to be a yearly grant. "It is fitting," she said, "that the short but full life of this educator be remembered each year, this scholarship is to be granted to someone aspiring to become an educator."

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