Dr. Horace Orr

[Stan]

Valley’s pioneer doctor passes away

He was the backbone of this community.- Tina Vidana, Nurse for Dr. Orr

BROOKE EDWARDS Staff Writer

March 25, 2008 - 5:16PM

One of the first doctors in the Victor Valley, Dr. Horace Orr, died Monday night at 95 of age-related complications.

“He was the backbone of this community,” said Tina Vidana, who worked 20 years as a nurse for Orr in his practice on Seventh Street. “He delivered everybody.”

Orr had been battling cancer, which began in his thyroid and moved to his lungs, but his daughter-in-law Melanie Orr said he had developed pneumonia and likely died of a pulmonary embolism.

When Orr first moved to the desert in 1946, he was the only physician who made house calls day and night — from Lucerne Valley to El Mirage, and as far north as Helendale.

“He really enjoyed going to people’s homes,” said Brenda Hibbetts, hospice director with the local branch of the Visiting Nurses Association, where Orr served as director until 2003.

Hibbetts said that instead of relying strictly on reports and tests, “He would look at the patient. He could tell you a lot of stuff that was wrong just by looking at them.”

For his efforts, Orr was named the best “rural practitioner” in the state by the California Medical Association in 2003.

Dr. Orr made his last house call on Feb. 5, Vidana said, to see a patient who had suffered from a small stroke.

Orr was born in Nebraska in 1913. He worked as a newspaper publisher for several years after graduating from Pacific Union College, until he met a registered nurse named Mary Colin. The couple married in 1938, and Mary supported him through medical school at the College of Medical Evangelists, now Loma Linda University.

Nine months into his internship at Los Angeles County Hospital, and with his 4-month-old son Fred at home, Orr was drafted to serve in World War II. He served in Germany and at the Walter Reed Medical Center before he was discharged in 1946.

While looking for a practice he could join, Orr was persuaded to try his luck in Victorville, a city of 1,100 with one physician. Without having ever been to the High Desert, Orr packed up his wife and son, checked into the Green Spot Motel and opened his own office on Seventh Street.

With nearly another decade before St. Mary Medical Center opened, the closest general hospital was in San Bernardino. Orr, with his wife and nurse by his side, used a pressure cooker to sterilize his obstetric equipment and delivered babies in his office.

As the valley grew, Orr served as the first chief of staff for St. Mary and Victor Valley Community Hospital. He was also physician for the city of Victorville, surgeon for the Santa Fe Railroad and later joined Desert Valley Medical Group.

Orr retired from Desert Valley in 1996, but continued visiting with patients until his health quickly deteriorated just a few weeks ago.

“This man has just been a very integral part of his community well into his 90s,” Hibbetts said. “We just adored him.”

Dr. Orr is survived by his wife Mary, 92, his son Fred, his daughter Mary Elizabeth, one grandchild and the thousands of lives he touched.

Services will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Seventh Day Adventist Church at 16070 Lorene Drive in Victorville. Mary Orr has asked that, in leiu of flowers, donations be made to the Adventist Development and Relief Agency at www.adra.org.