SCHOOL BOARD VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO NAME THE STAGE OF THE REMODELED HHS AUDITORIUM FOR LATE SCHOOL TEACHER, THOMAS E. ORR.
What started out several years ago as a campaign to convince the Henderson County School Board to name the newly remodeled Hendersonville High School Auditorium for the late Tom Orr, an English and Dramatics art teacher, turned out to be partially successful when the school board voted, unanimously, Monday night to instead, name the stage in the auditorium for Orr. It will be called the Tom E. Orr Stage.
Several years ago, Orr’s niece, Ashley Self, organized a group consisting of hundreds of former HHS students who wrote letters and made calls to school board members and even had a special Tom Orr Day in front of the historical Henderson County Court House last fall encouraging the auditorium naming for Orr.
In spite of all the support for Orr, there were some in the school administration who didn’t think it fair to name the auditorium after just one teacher when so many other teachers were qualified for the naming rights. People ‘took sides’ and the effort for the naming right became quite ‘political’. Editorials were broadcast on radio and delivered to each school board member pointing out that other school buildings, gymnasiums and football fields in the Henderson County School System had been named after teachers in the past to no success in convincing the naming for Orr.
Much time passed and when it looked as if the long effort would end in failure, the school board understood that the organized group of HHS people weren’t going away’ and relented by ‘tossing the group a half-loaf of bread’ instead, and named the stage after Orr, instead of the auditorium. Supporters of Orr responded with appreciation and are planning appropriate ceremonies for the Tom E. Orr Stage when the auditorium remodeling process is finished.
Orr was a graduate of Hendersonville High School in 1957 and received his degree in Education from UNC-Chapel Hill followed by a master’s degree from Western Carolina University.
Tom was a dedicated teacher of English and Theater at Hendersonville High School for 32 years. His dedication is best described from a prestigious teaching award he received, The Parker Award, from UNC. He was described as “a young man whose training and experience in theatre arts may have taken him to the professional theatre world or to one of the nation’s major universities to teach, but chose to put his skill to work as a high-school teacher in his home-town.”
His students have thanked him for giving them life-changing inspiration and challenging them to do great things in life and taking risks to achieve it. His love for teaching drama and English instilled that same love in those he taught.
There are many prestigious awards and positions that he held during his teaching career. President of the Educational Theatre Association, president of the Southern Theatre Conference, state director of the North Carolina Thespian Society, president of the North Carolina Theatre, finalist for the North Carolina teacher of the year, Outstanding Teacher-Mentor award from the NC School of Mathematics and Science, Outstanding Teacher of Drama/Production and Design from NC School of the Arts, Presidents Award from the Educational Theatre Association, the John Parker award from UNC-Chapel Hill, the Stanton H. Proctor Award for Teaching Excellence from Western Carolina, president of the Educational Theatre Association and a founder of the Hendersonville Little Theatre.
After retiring from teaching in the classroom, Tom served on the Board of Public Education as chairman, the board of trustees of Flat Rock Playhouse, chairman of the Boys and Girls Clubs program, was on Blue Ridge Community Colleges board of trustees, chairman of the Historic Courthouse Centennial Committee, was inducted to the Hendersonville High School Hall of fame, and initiated and directed the Messiah production at First Baptist Church. Tom wrote weekly columns for the Times-News sharing history from Henderson County since 2009. He was instrumental in the founding of the Walk of Fame that honors Henderson County residents who were notable citizens.
And now, his final recognition – The Tom E. Orr Stage at Hendersonville High School.
Surely, today, after the long ‘fight’…Tom is ‘smiling’ from above.
