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Obit for Orville posted by Martha Reddout
Jul 23, 1929 - Aug 18, 2019
Whinery Funeral Service
Sayre, OK
(permission granted)
A prayer vigil will be held at Whinery Chapel at 7 pm on Thursday, August 22, 2019.
Mass of Christian burial will be held at the St. Matthew Catholic Church at 10:30 am on Friday, August 23, 2019.
Interment will follow at Calvary Cemetery under the direction of Whinery Funeral Service.
Orville Charles Word was born in Elk City, OK to Sebe and Maude Word on July 23, 1929 and passed away peacefully in his Elk City home on August 18, 2019 at the age of 90 years and 20 days. Orville grew up on the 300 block of 5th Street not far from dirt roads and fields just a few blocks from his father’s radiator shop which had opened in 1916. He would declare, half joking, that his father Sebe was the reason he was tough. As a toddler, Orville’s mother would fashion him in a new diaper so the scrapping boy could be at the shop all day with his dad. Orville credited that shop, Beckham County’s longest serving family business, as the foundation of strong work ethic. The summers within the brick building were a sweltering hot box and the winters often a frigid tundra with most of the heat rushing through every garage door and crevice. Regardless of the season, though, the radiator shop was always a workhouse — a workhouse that Orville delighted in each and every day. Orville loved holding court at the shop, often surrounded by long-time friends and customers captivated by his sharp memory and unmatched ability to slip a perfectly timed cuss word into any story. The shop was Orville’s lifeblood, and he its. He went to work there when he was just 12. Three years later, Word Radiator Shop burned down in it’s original location. Along side his father, he built the current Word Radiator Shop on Adams. Taking a step inside of Orville’s shop is still like a journey into his mind. The shop greets its customers and friends with a car grill as old as Orville himself, large garage doors open to old radiators, cart parts and the pungent aroma of grease and hard work. And, then in the center of it all, was Orville’s office, draped with photographs from Elk City’s antiquity and newspapers from every stretch. There at his throne, encircled by chairs perfect for conversation, he would recount days gone about a current customer’s grandparent or better times or worse times or what kind of fish was biting. Like his father before him, Orville half raised his children and grandchildren inside his radiator shop. He knew he’d learned some of his best lessons from that shop and he gave family that same gift. Of course, Orville believed very much in giving a 100% effort in all endeavors. During his high school years in 1948, he was a star football player for the Big Elks, eventually becoming the team captain. The team suffered but one loss his senior year, the state championship game, a loss he still cussed until his final days. Orville played to win, by God. The sting of the football loss was healed promptly when he stumbled upon a pretty Catholic girl in a Washita county cotton field. He married Teresa Adams on a snowy day in January, 1950. Orville had been raised Baptist and Church of Christ, happily converted for his bride. A year later, they had their first daughter, Patty, followed shortly by Maudy, Karen, Charlie and then the caboose, Scotty. Preparing for his 90th birthday party, Orville boasted that marrying Teresa had been the smartest move he had ever made. She had been a partner in it all, he said, life, family, business, saving and fun. The couple spent many cherished moments at their lake house at Foss. Orville was an avid fisherman, a passion he also passed on to many of his children and grandchildren. In later years, he would agree to go on cruises so Teresa could see the world, but also joke that he was happier on a little boat on Foss Lake than he was on some big boat in the ocean. But then again, Orville loved western Oklahoma, especially Elk City. In fact, Orville liked living in Elk City so much that he would happily donate his time and energy to civic organizations. He served as #6 on the Elk City Fire Department volunteer squad for twenty years, beginning in 1952. He was a founding member of both the Elks Lodge and the Elk City Alumni Association, of which he was placed in the Hall of Fame in 2005. Orville was a Democrat, loud and proud capital D. Vocal in support and colorful in any dismissal, no one had to wonder what his opinion was. Though Orville’s party allegiance was a well-known fact, local politicians from all sides of the aisle still stopped by the shop with hopes of landing the famous “Orville Word Endorsement,” seen by some municipal leaders as political gold. Even Oklahoma City TV stations have sought Orville’s opinion on the current affairs of Elk City. Of course, politics was far from the only discussions where Orville preferred curse words. He fancied those words for any kind of talk — every damn kind, in fact. Sometimes those words flew in anger, as local legend and lore circulates more than one story of Orville flinging an inpatient customer’s radiator into the road as he shouted that they could take that (explicit) somewhere (explicit) else. Most the time his naughty words aimed for a giggle. Orville was ornery and he could have the very best time in the sweltering radiator shop when the temperature was 105. He was an unmovable force, solid as a rock physically and metaphorically. But, when all was said and done, the same things that brought him delight at 10 still did at 90 — his hard work, his family and nice conversation.
Orville is proceeded in death by his parents, his siblings Sebe, Pike and Bill Word and sister Calla Mae, granddaughter Jennifer Lynn Word and son-in-law Mark Gholston.
He is survived by his wife of 69 years, Teresa of the home, daughter Patty and husband Daniel Wilson of San Antonio, daughters Maudy Gholston and Karen Brown of Elk City and sons Charlie and wife Kathy Word and Scotty Word of Elk City, grandchildren Tracy, Shawn, Anna, Mandy, O.C., Melissa, Adam, Jina, and Joey, 28 great-grand children and two great great-grandchildren, a special niece Nancy Word-Weaver and a host of other relatives and friends.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Orville’s name be made to WAR Animal Rescue or the St. Matthew’s Church.
The family would like to extended a special thank-you to Comforting Hands Hospice who showed Orville so much compassion.
Visitation
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Whinery Funeral Service
403 W. Country Club
Elk City, Oklahoma 73644
Visitation
Thursday, August 22, 2019
9:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Whinery Funeral Service
403 W. Country Club
Elk City, Oklahoma 73644
Prayer Service
Thursday, August 22, 2019
7:00 PM
Whinery Chapel
403 West Country Club
Elk City, Oklahoma 73644
Mass of Christian Burial
Friday, August 23, 2019
10:30 AM
St. Matthew Catholic
Church
3001 E. Highway 66
Elk City, Oklahoma 73644
Burial will be at Calvary Cemetery.
A keepsake video is available through the funeral home.
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