Lorin Harvey Brigham

Lorin was born in Robinson, Ill. during the roaring ‘20s, the son of an electrician. He joined the United States Marine Corps shortly after Pearl Harbor and was stationed in the Philippines. After the war he was employed by Cities Service Oil Co. as a ‘doodle-bugger’ in the oil patches across the Western and Midwestern United States.

Lorin met his first wife while on a double date in the farm country of southwestern Oklahoma. Billie Jo Guy married Lorin on July 5, 1949. They started a family while living in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Donna was their first child born in 1955. David and Daniel were twins born in 1957.

The family moved to Lafayette, Louisiana in 1964 when Lorin was transferred by Cities Service to their regional office in Lafayette. The family moved again, this time to Houston, Texas in 1972 when Lorin was again transferred. He retired in 1986 some time after Cities Service was acquired by Oxy Petroleum.

Lorin’s son, David, passed away in 1987, his wife, Billie Jo, passed away in 1989 after a prolonged illness. He remarried in 1990 to Marcia Scharf, who passed away in 2002. Marcia has one daughter, Julie, who lives in Houston. In 2006, Lorin’s son Daniel moved in to live with Lorin in his home in west Houston. Lorin passed away after a brief illness in the hospital on Monday, February 27, 2012.

The main focus of Lorin’s life after retiring from the oil business was his involvement and membership in Memorial Drive United Methodist Church. He sang in the choir, was a member of the Men of Action and The Bridgebuilders and was involved in the Restorative Justice ministry to those in or just coming out of the Judicial system. He will be very much missed and fondly remembered.

Following a private committal service in Memorial Oaks Cemetery, family and friends gathered at eleven o’clock in the morning on Thursday, the 1st of March, at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church, 12955 Memorial Drive in Houston, where a celebration of this wonderful man’s life was conducted by Reverend Jim McPhail.