1968-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1968 August Voice RS | Page 94

During a hot daytime Celebration program, Gillie On teas caught
informally by an unexpected lensman
his weekly newspaper column, Gillie Orr handled all adver­
tising and publicity for the Tennessee Walking Horse Breed­
ers’ Association of .America, Lewisburg, Tennessee. He has
for the attractive booklet it publishes on the Tennessee Walk­
ing Horse. He was also Tennessee Walking Horse editor for
Saddle and Bridle magazine, and had contributed to more
horse publications than he could remember. In his own esti­
mate, he had “contributed stories galore on the Tennessee
Walking Horse to publications all over the country,” and was
“never happier than when telling the world about this breed
of the light horse which is indigenous to Tennessee.” He knew
hundreds of breeders throughout the country, and was ever
ready to help them with a good word for their breed.
He had served as general manager for the annual Mule Day
at Columbia a good many times, and had also served as tem­
porary secretary of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce. He
was manager of the annual Kiwanis Club horse show in that
city, and was a member of that civic organization. He was one
of the organizers of, and an active member of the Maury
County Horsemen’s Association, and had done Boy Scout and
other civic work in his home city.
He is survived by his son, known throughout the horse
world as Gillie Mac, and his sister, Miss Mary Phillips Orr of
Columbia. Such was the greatness of the man, however, that
his legion of friends, admirers and acquaintances also feel
themselves survivors in the broad sense. Loved by rich and
poor, perhaps the greatest tribute of all was contained in a wire
of condolence received the day after his death. It came from
an obscure colored waiter in a hotel far removed from Col­
umbia, where Gillie Orr had frequently stopped for meals on
his travels. To a bereaved family, this appreciative waiter
telegraphed, “Your loss is my loss, for I have lost a friend.”
FRIEND, — Requiescat!