A fine principal and educator
What does it take to be an exceptional educator and leader of a school? Researching the life of George D. Orr, principal of Sandy High from 1925 through 1943, unwraps some clues.
A zeal for learning, a positive attitude, and the willingness to give are stand-out traits. In order for students to learn, they need recognition, desire, and willingness to learn. Order and respect set good foundations on which to make learning possible and build on it. Orr encouraged those attributes.
George D. Orr was exemplary among many fine principals and educators to serve Sandy High School. He was a strong leader, yet could mingle with the community in a kaleidoscoping variety of service. He served as superintendent and principal of Sandy High School for 19 years from the fall of 1924 to 1943. Besides being the only administrator, he also taught biology, chemistry, instrumental music, and advised students to continue their education.
Early on Orr had organized the first Sandy school band. He taught students how to read music and how to play brass and woodwind instruments. He gave free music lessons after school hours, usually between 4 and 6 p.m., at his home across the street. He taught students to read music and to love it.
Orr enthusiastically shared his love of the outdoors, the natural world, and the magnificence of mountaineering. He safely guided climbs to the summit of Mount Hood, took energetic Boy Scouts on hiking trips, went camping, and led geological expeditions in eastern Oregon. He willingly answered questions and taught identification of rocks, fossils, plants, and trees. His four sons fondly remembered the fun trips and gems of information they discovered while camping and hunting with their parents.
He had worked to pay for his own education, moving with a cousin in about 1910 to McMinnville, where they finished high school and attended Linfield College for a time. George then moved to Corvallis in about 1914 and enrolled in O.A.C. (now Oregon State University), paying for expenses partly by playing in orchestras for dances.
Enlistment in The Navy during World War I interrupted the schooling. In 1918 he married Maggie Van Order, whose ancestors came as pioneers from Nebraska to Mosier, Oregon in the 1880s.
After earning a Masters Degree in Zoology from O.S.U. in 1922, he taught in other places before settling in Sandy. There was no doubt that he was in charge in the
classroom, and his caring about people and the community he served also showed the inner man. He had no discipline problems in the school.
Orr accepted a career promotion offer to become Superintendent of Lincoln County Schools in 1943. Sadly, he died of cancer six years afterward. During his career at Sandy, his desire to give students the best in education helped to grow the curriculum and enrollment. The first athletic field was named the George D. Orr Field and a music award was given yearly in his honor.
Information sourced from Hometown Sandy Oregon by P. Jonsrud, 60-61, 80 Years in the Same Neighborhood by P. Jonsrud, 40-41, and Sandy Pioneers, Early Settlers and Barlow Road Days, Second Edition, Editors Elizabeth Hartman et. al., 156.
