Rose Mary Hunt Orr
Rose Mary Hunt Orr, 98, of Vienna, died Tuesday, May 5, 2020, at 1 a.m. at Parkway Manor in Marion.
She was born on Jan. 10, 1922, in Indianapolis, Ind., the daughter of Chester R. and Eva Lena Veach Hunt.
She was first united in marriage to James Edwin Crain. He preceded her in death on Oct. 11, 1949. She later was united in marriage to Harold Eugene Orr on Jan. 15, 1955, at the Vienna First United Methodist Church. He preceded her in death on March 29, 2018.
Survivors include her children, Michael Crain and Larry Crain, both of Vienna, and Patricia (Steve) Crain Stroud of Raleigh, N.C.; stepsons John E. (Carole) Orr of Star, Idaho, and Robert L. (Mary) Orr of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; eight grandchildren, John G. Orr, Robin Roseberry Anders, Granger Roseberry, Michaeline A. Schuetz, Katrina Orr, Chadd Harbaugh, Travis Crain and Blake Crain; and several great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Chester R. Hunt and Eva Lena Veach Hunt-White; her brother, Bill Hunt; and a sister, Janet Hunt, who died in childhood.
She was a 1939 graduate of Vienna High School. She attended Brenau College for Women in Gainesville, Ga. (now Brenau University) and Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
For over 30 years, she was the manager, and later the owner, of the regionally renowned Bob White Café at West Vienna.
After retiring from the restaurant business, she began a new career as a professional courthouse genealogical researcher, specializing in five Southern Illinois counties. She also served as a volunteer researcher for prospective DAR members.
She was admitted to membership in the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution in 1983 as a member of the Daniel Chapman Chapter.
Having ingrained in her family a love for history, her leadership brought four generations of her family to membership in the Daniel Chapman Chapter.
One of the DAR projects of which she was most proud culminated in her placing the 1995 commemorative bronze plaque for the “Liberty Bell of the West” on Kaskaskia Island.
Cast in La Rochelle, France, and older than the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell of the West was originally gifted by King Louis XV of France to the Catholic Church of the Illinois Country of 1741.
The bell was rung in celebration when George Rogers Clark and his Kentucky Long Knives captured Kaskaskia from the British on July 4, 1778, during the American Revolution, and the bell remains on the island to this day.
She served in many capacities during her Illinois Daughters tenure, including state chaplain, state librarian, Division VII director, DAR School chairman and director of the 1990 Illinois centennial school bus tour.
She was also lineage research chairman, a member of the Friends of the Library, DAR Days marshal and Illinois state genealogical library chairman.
She served as president and treasurer of the Illinois State Officers Club, as chaplain and board director of the State Chairman’s Club and was a charter member of the Illinois Cameo Club.
She further served as DAR state regent from 1995 to 1997 and was elected as honorary state regent of Illinois in 1997.
In Washington, D.C., in 1999, she was presented as candidate for vice president general at the 108th Continental Congress with her daughter, Patricia Crain Stroud, in attendance and her granddaughter, Robin Roseberry Anders, serving as personal page.
During her time serving the national society, she visited every state DAR chapter in the country, often piloted by husband, Harold Orr, and they enjoyed their travels immensely.
She was a member of the Illinois State Genealogical Society, the Illinois State Historical Society, the John Gaither Descendants, Kelsey Kindred, Veitch, Veatch, Veech, Veach Historical Society (Regional coordinator), Genealogical Society of Southern Illinois (genealogist and first vice president), Johnson County Genealogical & Historical Society (organizing board member and first vice president) and co-publisher of the Johnson County Federal Census records 1850-1860-1870.
Additionally, she was a member of patriotic organizations, including: Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America, Daughters of the American Colonists, State Insignia Chairman, National Society of the United States Daughters of 1812, Founders of Hartford Connecticut, Colonial Daughters of the Seventeenth Century (state corresponding secretary), the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America (James the Sheriff lineage) and a recipient of the SAR Medal of Appreciation.
Locally, she was a member of the First United Methodist Church and served as historian for the church’s 140th celebration. She copied and co-published the early church records. Additionally, she had served as the church membership chairman.
In her community, she served on the Johnson County Welfare Services Board, the Vienna City Zoning Board, the Vienna Carnegie Library, as secretary of the board of trustees and representative to the Shawnee Regional Library Board. Through her efforts, the Vienna Library is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
She was a 73-year member of the Order of the Eastern Star. She joined in January 1947 in Springfield and affiliated with Egyptian Chapter No. 30 OES at Vienna in 1957. She was also the organizing scribe and a Past Worthy High Priestess of the former Valley White Shrine of Jerusalem in Vienna.
A memorial service honoring the life of Rose Mary Hunt Orr will be held at a later date.
Inurnment will be beside her husband, Harold Orr, on the Hunt family lot at the Vienna Fraternal Cemetery.
Memorials can be made to the NSDAR Illinois State Regent’s Project “Serving All Illinois Veterans” and may be sent c/o Christy McDougal, NSDAR Illinois State Treasurer, 8633 State Route 143, Edwardsville, Ill. 62025-6805.
To share memory of Rose Mary or to leave an online message of condolence for her family, visit www.baileyfh.com.
Bailey Funeral Home in Vienna is in charge of arrangements.