Martha Lee Orr

Martha Lee (Edwards) “Marcia” Orr, 94, of Ligonier, passed away peacefully at her home Saturday, March 12, 2022. She was born Feb. 7,  1928, to long-time Mayor Al Edwards and his wife Linda (Bly) Edwards of Hendersonville, NC.

A beloved wife, mother, grandmother and recent great-grandmother, she left her beloved North Carolina mountains when she married William Lawrence Orr Jr, a nuclear engineer, and lived in a variety of places, ending up in Western Pennsylvania when her husband joined the Nuclear Fuels Division at Westinghouse. They relocated to Ligonier in 1971 when she was diagnosed with emphysema. 

Despite lifelong challenges with asthma she enjoyed golfing, hiking and gardening. She was also a talented artist and had a beautiful singing voice and enjoyed being a member of the Heritage United Methodist Church Choir. She was also an active member of the Ladies Golf Association at Ligonier Country Club and was a talented flower arranger, flower show judge and garden club member in her early days in Lynchburg, VA. 

For about eight years, she was employed as a bookkeeper at the Ligonier Valley Study Center in Stahlstown. She was also a member of the Ligonier DAR, Ligonier Valley Historical Society and Loyalhanna Watershed Association. She was a long-time volunteer at Latrobe Area Hospital. She loved bird-watching on the back porch, creating dollhouses and collecting geodes, seashells and knickknacks.

In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by a son, William Lawrence Orr III, and a sister Margaret (Peggy) Mills. 

Always a glamourous lady, she was adored by her surviving family, daughter Theresa Schwab and her husband Rick, with whom she lived in Ligonier; granddaughter Nikki Schwab, a journalist in Washington, DC; daughter Lauren Crews and husband Bill of State College; granddaughters Ashley Crews, a law student in Los Angeles, and Sabrina Crews, a teacher in Antioch, TN, and great-grandson William Leonard Crews IV, along with many cousins, nieces and nephews in Hendersonville, NC.

Memorial contributions, if desired, may be directed to the Ligonier Valley Historical Society or a charity of one's choice.
All arrangements are private for family and under the direction of McCabe Funeral Home, Ligonier. On line condolences may be made at mccabefuneralhomespa.com