Bonnie Jean (McComas) Orr
Obituaries
Daily Sentinal page 3B - December 26, 2021
Bonnie Jean
McComas Orr
December 16, 1929 - December 16, 2021
Mom chose to leave this
earth at exactly 92 years
of age. The last of the five
McComas siblings, she
went to join her brothers
and sisters in the early
morning hours of her
birthday.
Born in the Texas/Oklahoma panhandle at the home of
her Aunt Carrie, she was the daughter of wheat farmers,
Ray and Lillian McComas. Bonnie grew familiar with
hardship at an early age. Wheat prices plummeted in
1929, then the dustbowl decimated the family farm.
The McComases were left destitute. They traveled
north in search of work, loading their Model T truck
with a trunk for each, a sewing machine, five always
hungry children and a fifty gallon barrel of gasoline. In
late summer 1934 they landed in Colorado and worked
picking peaches in Palisade. Eventually they settled
in Montrose, in the midst of the Great Depression.
They lived on game harvested from the Uncompahgre
and a vegetable garden. Bonnie described her parents
during those years as having kindness, frugality and
carefulness.
While her two brothers, one sister, and her father
served during WWII, Bonnie went to school, graduating
from Montrose High School and enrolling at Western
State College. Transferring to Mesa Junior College in
1950, she worked on the staff of The Criterion, where
she met journalism student, Bill Orr. They married
March 17, 1951.
Bill and Bonnie led an adventurous life, living at
various times in Alaska, Wyoming, and Texas, but
always returning to Colorado. Bonnie worked as an
executive secretary for several attorneys, a lumber
company, and an airline, as well as Brown & Root,
where she was employed on “Black Sunday” 1982.
She related that even in the head office they were not
informed that Exxon was pulling out.
An avid reader and gifted writer, Bonnie was an
exceedingly independent woman. She walked all over
the city up into her late 80s, searching out unique
treasures at yard sales and antique shops. She lived on
her own until early this year.
Bonnie is survived by son, Kim Orr; daughters and
sons-in-law, Sally (Mike) Pahler, and Janet (Tim)
Nelson, John Orr; 16 grandchildren, and 17 greatgrandchildren, with an 18th due any day. Bonnie Jean
has gone home.
A memorial service will be 10:00 a.m., Monday,
December 27, 2021, at Martin Mortuary, with a
committal service to follow at Orchard Mesa Cemetery.
