Orval Devon Laney

Born in Shelton WA on Julyn26, 1937 to Clarence and Unabelle Laney.

Lived in Yakima from August 1950 to August 1956. Lived in SE Yakima on Iler Lane. Orv thought Yakima was a great place to grow up in the Fifty’s – Friday and Saturday nights he would drag the Ave.

Orv had two sisters, Wanda (Laney) Streby, and Darlene (Laney) Coon.

Orv hired into The Boeing Company on August 13, 1956, when “You Ain’t Nothing but a Hound Dog” was number one on the jukebox. Born and lived in Washington State with an exception for six years (1961 – 1967) in Santa Barbara County, California.

Orv was married 3 times. First to Elizabeth (Michelson, Laney) Werley in 1961 for (9 years) and the second Patricia (Graham) Laney in 1971 (33 years), Pat died in April 2003, widower for a few years then married his current wife Felicity (Edwards) Laney who lives in England.

Orv has five grown children. Stuart Todd Laney and Christine Devon Laney with his first wife Elizabeth, and adopted Patricia’s three children Kristen Blair Morrison, Zachery (Michael) Morrison and Karen Lee Aaron. They currently all live in the Seattle area. Orv was very proud of all of his children.

Orv retired from Boeing in May 1993 after 35 years of service at The Boeing Company. Orv and Pat traveled in their motor home for about three years in several western states and western Canada before she became too ill to travel. Pat had a lung transplant at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle in December 2000 which extended her life for which they were both very thankful.

As a widower he got the gumption to try out internet dating too much of his kids surprise he was very non-technical and even printed (and saved) all of his email. Orval and Fizz had a lovely marriage albeit brief.

A Tribute from Fizz ~

MY BELOVED ORVAL

At this difficult time, it is extremely hard to put collective thoughts together except to say Orval and I did have a lovely marriage albeit brief. We met by way of the internet. After 3 months of conversing, he eventually came to England to meet me. I vividly recall, much to my amusement what he said he would wear so as to identify him at the airport. "Brown leather jacket and beige trousers" he had said. No less than 3 passengers came through wearing identical clothing !!......but no Orval. I waited but no more passengers came through. Thinking I had been stood up I started to walk away, when suddenly a lone figure emerged slowly strolling through the baggage hall with not a care in the world. I walked up to him and he gave me the biggest grin. His very first words he uttered were "I’ve got blood on my trousers" not a hello !! He had cut his finger quite badly on the overhead locker when putting his cabin baggage away.

He had said to his family "If I don’t come back, ring Scotland Yard" Likewise, my sister, had asked me with some anxiety if I had done a police check on him. We had much laughter over that. Orval did get back to the US and I did not do a police check.

I had decided a good way to break the ice was to stop off at a 16th century pub on the way home. The Fountain Inn just some 3 miles away from me. I also had another motive for doing so. I told him to mind his head on entering the pub as the doors and wood beams are very low, being centuries old. I made him sit on a little wooden bench by the inglenook fireplace where the log fire was burning. "Well" I said, "how do you feel ?"as he sipped his pint of good English Ale "Hell" he replied "I can’t keep my ass on the seat, it’s so small" I reminded him they were little people in the 16th century !! "You've just made history" I said. "That was Sir Lawrence Olivier's seat, the famous English Shakespearean actor, this was his local pub and his seat, he use to mingle with the locals. His great friend Sir Douglas Fairbanks and other distinguished actors use to sit there together on this little seat. What should have been a quick drink on the way home turned into a 4 hour party with Orval chatting to all the intrigued locals. He stole the show. When I finally managed to pull him away, he was on cloud nine.

Appreciating how tired he was with the long travelling plus the 8 hour time difference and knowing he needed rest I had prepared a cold platter. Unable to keep awake he collapse and his face landed in the ham salad , he ended up with mayonnaise on his nose. He was most endearing.

On this visit to England I had planned a small surprise and we headed for the West Country which is beautiful. We stayed in a famous place call Lyme Regis in the county of Dorset. [fossil country]. Regrettably, despite the spectacular scenery, Orval had difficulty walking.

Our hotel overlooked the beautiful bay and the famous "COBB", it is a causeway and was where Meryl Streep walked along it in the Oscar winning film "The French Lieutenants Woman" with Jeremy Irons. Orval walked the whole distance along the Cobb and I had managed to take several photos of him still grinning ! He couldn't get over it and talked about it to his friends. There was a 12th century pub where the film crew use to drink after filming. Orval couldn't get his head round it that everything was dwarf size !!.

Orval very often could not understand what I was saying, we, in England, have 6 ways of saying things over here, you funny yanks barely have 1 or 2 ? He did not understand the "chucking" it down, meaning an intense rain pour ! The word "twice", after a long pause he said "Do you mean 2 times" He was so funny, I’m sure he knew although he looked puzzled. We have many ways of expressing things and Orval was always eager to know what they meant. We would spend hours chatting about the English idiom !

We married in England a year later. We had planned to spend 3/4 months both in the UK/US travelling but his health took a tumble and it became increasingly obvious his declining health meant travelling was restricted.

He was my everything, comical, funny, loud, loving, i irritating, obsessive, and very witty. He always had a wise crack which didn't always go down too well with 20 year old shop assistants. He could be supremely stubborn and unbelievably exasperating at times.

We had a daily morning battle between Rush Limba and my classical music, invariably Rush won the day over his cereal.

Our love and affection remained constant as we waited for the immigration that would finally bring us together. It was not to be.

Orval is a very special person to me and has left a large vacuum in my life, but I will always cherish our wonderful memories that we shared and the happy times we had together.

He was simply my darling Orval. RIP

" I know I cannot be with you today my darling as your family and friends commemorate your life, but you know I am with you in spirit. For always. Candles and photos will sit side by side as I reflect in the warmth of our short but happy life together, I love you. Fizz xx