Otto ORR
"The educational commission appointed in 1915 by State Supt. Robert H. Wilson to make a systematic and thorough study of rural conditions, particularly with reference to illiteracy, found its work enthusiastically welcomed in a majority of communities of former Indian Territory. The interest manifested by a local teacher became a sign of his progressiveness in his profession, and some of these educators exhibited unusual talent in their activities leading to educational reform.
Otto ORR, at Kemp City, received his commission for the work and set about it in the fall of 1915 with enthusiasm, preparing to initiate every facility of reform suggested in the commission's program, even to the organization of moonlight schools for the benefit of illiterate adults of the community. He also opened the study of theoretical and practical agriculture in his school and encouraged the work of the county farm demonstration agent in the organization of boys' and girls' agricultural clubs and preparing exhibits for county and state farms.
Mr. ORR was born at Alicia, Arkansas, in 1895, and is a son of Louis S. and Georgia (COX) ORR, both of whom died when he was small, leaving him to be reared in the home of and educated by an uncle. In the family there was one other son and four daughters: J. J. who is a concrete contractor at Roberts, Wisconsin; Mrs. Charles SNEDEKER, who is the wife of a farmer at Alicia, Arkansas; Mrs. Lelia DAVENPORT, who is the wife of a merchant at Alicia; Mrs. Audra GREEN, who is the wife of a railway engineer of Little Rock, Arkansas; and Miss Eunice, who is a school girl at Alicia.
Otto ORR was first placed in an orphan asylum at Batesville, Arkansas, at the age of ten years, but, becoming dissatisfied with his treatment, he soon left with other boys and made his way on foot to the home of his uncle, a distance of seventy miles. His public school education was acquired in the institutions of Arkansas, Illinois and Oklahoma, being completed with two years of high school at Hugo, Oklahoma, where he prepared himself for teaching. He taught his first school near Swank, Choctaw County, Oklahoma, at the age of sixteen years and remained there for a second year. Recognized at the outset of his career as a thorough, capable and progressive educator, he was elected principal of the Kemp City School, an office which he has retained to the present time, being a general favorite with teachers, pupils and parents, as well as the community in general, the people appreciating his efforts in behalf of a higher standard of education. The Town of Kemp City is two miles from the old Town of Kemp and two miles from the old Bloomfield Academy, where the postoffice of Hendrix was first established, although it has since a few years ago been moved to Kemp City.
Mr. ORR is a member of the local lodge of the Woodment of the World and of the Bryan County Teachers Association. He is unmarried."