A Friend Indeed: Stan Orrick

My father wasn’t the type that spent a lot of time with friends, preferring to focus his attentions on family. A genuinely kind and generous person, dad had a small number of friends by choice, and at the top of that select list was L.S. “Stan” Orrick. It was Stan who had first come to Fort Worth to work at General Dynamics, calling dad (Doug Stevens) to tell him that the giant defense contractor was hiring. This lead prompted dad leave the family behind while he drove to Texas to look things over. This resulted in the family moving to Fort Worth in 1949.
Our family lived in two or three different homes during the first eleven years in Fort Worth, but in 1960 built a new home. This one was right down the street from Stan and his wife Marie, and where my mother and father would live the rest of their lives. I remember Stan walking down the street to visit Dad, and I recall them sometimes going to the library or a book store together. They didn’t socialize often, but always maintained contact. When my mother passed away on September 12, 2004 dad was devastated by the loss, and he was ill prepared for the death of his friend Stan little over a month later, on October 21st. Two years later Marie passed, on November 28, 2006. I knew that dad was beginning to feel as though he were the last of his group, the lone survivor from the old days.
When dad died in May of 2007, I had the solemn task of going through the contents of the house, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. On dad’s dresser, in a box he used for years to hold tie clasps, cuff links and such, I found two photographs of Stan, along with his obituary. That spoke volumes of the respect he had for his long-time friend.
I don’t really know much about Stan, but was surprised to discover that he and Marie were extremely active in the study of genealogy. They were both members of the Fort Worth Genealogical Society from 1971 until 2002, with Stan being Director at Large in 1981 and 1982. Was I told of their interest long ago, and simply too self-absorbed to care, or was it never mentioned? Hard to say. How sad that I’ve tackled genealogy only recently, as I’m sure that Stan could have helped point the way.