Billy Paul Orgish
Marriages
Freda Elisa Hembry - December 1, 2000
Burial Details
Obituaries
Eagle Valley Enterprise page 6 - July 1, 2004
Vail Daily - June 28, 2004
morningDaily Staff ReportThe classroom in the ways of the Old School got a little smaller Monday. Lifetime Eagle County resident Billy Paul Orgish died early Monday morning in Gypsum. He was 74.
Memorial services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday, July 1, at the Farnum-Holt Funeral Home, 405 W. 7th St., Glenwood Springs. Pastor Bruce Dunsdon will officiate. Burial will follow at Rosebud Cemetery, Glenwood Springs.Orgish was born March 8, 1930, in McCoy, to Paul and Freda Orgish. He had one brother, Jerry Orgish, who preceded him in death. He married Annie Gibbons on Dec. 1, 2000 in Gypsum, who survives him and lives in Gypsum.Friends said there are few people left around here who are that naturally nice, generous, and kind. They say that apple didn’t fall from the tree because his mother and father were the same way.”If I had a sore back, they would try to fix it,” said longtime friend Roger Brown of Gypsum.
Orgish tended to wander around picking up rocks and things, like his dad did.”That’s kind of people who used to be here,” said Brown. “Their amusement, because we didn’t have ski lifts or motor bikes, was just to go walking around.”Orgish had a wide and varied professional career, working at times as an auctioneer, miner, for the Bureau of Land Management, in law enforcement for 30 years, as a rancher for 30 years, and as a healer for 14 years. He worked in Eagle County, Steamboat Springs and Cortez.”Billy Orgish was the closest thing we have to a shaman in this country,” said Brown. “He was a healer, and an herbalist. The wonderful thing about him was the kind of childlike innocence he maintained. In a world today where everybody’s getting pretty depressed with wars, etc., it didn’t even touch him. He was an optimist, he believed in himself.”
Orgish was an old school “witcher” meaning he could find water, and many people found their wells with him. He also claimed to be able to “witch” Indian graves – find them with a stick. Brown included a story in his book about Orgish finding Native American artifacts.”He went with a stick, went right to it and found pottery,” said Brown. “That’s very rare in this county. He went right to where he found the artifacts.”The professional organizations he was involved with included the Association of Colorado Law Enforcement Officers and the Australian Bowen Society.
