CODY, Wyo. — Edna Lee Meyer Orgill completed a life well lived on June 24, 2012, in Cody,Wyoming.

Edna was born March 1920 in Cloverport, Kentucky, to Fannie Johnson Cole Meyer and Carl George Meyer. She had three older sisters and one older brother, Mary Elizabeth Meyer (Berry) 1901, Ruth Viola Meyer (Epperson) 1905, Roy Laughton Meyer 1910, and Alma Helen Meyer (Borland) 1913. Her mother had an older sister, Susan, and two brothers, Edward and George Lee. Edna was named for her uncles, Ed and George Lee. Her father worked for the railroad in Cloverport and moved the family to Louisville when she was three. He worked for the Baltimore & Ohio and Louisville and Nashville Railroads and later for Ford Motor Company. They lived in mid-town and later moved to the west end two blocks from Shawnee Park.

She attended Shawnee Elementary (1-6), Shawnee Junior High (7-9), and Shawnee High School (all girls grades 10-12). She graduated as president of her class which due to the 1937 flood was class 1938½. As a youth, she enjoyed the recreation, activities and attractions at Shawnee Park and Fountain Fairy Amusement Park. The 1937 flood of the Ohio River put six feet of water in her family’s home on Larkwood Street, and split up the family for a short time.  Her family rented a house in the Highlands area for six months while the family home was repaired.

Edna became a member of the First Presbyterian Church as a teenager. She taught children’s Sunday school and attended adult Bible class. After high school, she attended a business school in Louisville. For two years, Edna was a receptionist/typist at a print shop where her brother worked, and worked another two years for the Peaslee Galbert Wholesale Company. Encouraged by her brother-in-law, Melvin Borland, she obtained work at Southern Bell Telephone company and through the war years Edna enjoyed working for “ma bell”.

During World War II, at a U.S.O. function sponsored by the Women’s Club of Louisville at Fort Knox, Edna met Marvin Wilford Orgill of Caliente, Nevada, who was training with the Fifth Armored, 34th Tank Battalion. Romance was interrupted by tank maneuvers in the Mojave Desert and Tennessee, but they married in September 1943. Edna went with Marvin to Pine Camp, New York, near Watertown until Marvin embarked for England. The Fifth Armored and Marvin (born in Mona, Utah on June 6th) landed with Patton’s 3rd Army on Utah Beach about a month after D-day. The combat ended for him on the Elbe River forty-five miles west of Berlin. Edna and Marvin wrote each other religiously. Marvin returned to Edna in the fall of 1945 having been awarded the Bronze Star, Silver Star, and Purple Heart.

Edna and Marvin started a family with a son (James Rockford, June 1947) and a daughter (Holly Kay, January 1951). Edna became a homemaker, and Marvin worked for Southern Bell Telephone Company. In 1957, they moved to Paducah, Kentucky when Marvin was promoted to district manager. Edna and Marvin joined the First Presbyterian Church where she taught Sunday school, participated in church circles, potluck dinners, and fund raiser bazaars. As an adult, Edna continued her many hobbies, sewing, knitting, crocheting, and cooking. She volunteered for charitable organizations like Girl Scouts of America, Telephone Pioneers of America, the Quilt Museum in Paducah, and the Market House. She also did temporary work for the Paducah Board of Education. Holly became an attorney and Rocky a senior staff geophysicist.

Edna enjoyed traveling west to see Marvin’s family in the days of Route 66. She visited many of the U.S. and Canadian National Parks. As Rocky moved frequently while working for a major oil company, Edna and Marvin would spend vacations with their  son sightseeing. Edna also enjoyed foreign travel to Spain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Luxemburg, England, Scotland, Wales, and Utah Beach.

Edna moved to San Ramon, California, to live with her son after the death of her husband. In California, she enjoyed the bay area sights and the California wine country. She visited Yosemite, Sequoia, and King’s Canyon parks. In 2002 Edna moved with her son to Cody, Wyoming. There Edna attended the Presbyterian Church, its circle meetings, and luncheons. She also worked as a volunteer at the Cody Library and attended the annual concert series. Edna also took numerous trips in northwest Wyoming including Yellowstone.

Edna eventually moved to Absaroka Assisted Living and in the last year needed special care at West Park Hospital Long Term Care.

Edna lived a good, healthy, and full life. She was a special individual, a sweet lady, friendly, happy, polite, well mannered, well liked, and loved.

Edna is survived by her daughter, Holly Kay Orgill Sparrow; her grandchildren, Andrew Clayton Sparrow and Ryan Daniel Sparrow, and son, James Rockford Orgill.

Contacts: J.R. Orgill, 1002 Meadow Lane Avenue, Cody, WY 82414  307-527-6046; Holly Sparrow 734 Woodley Drive, N.W. Atlanta, GA 30318  404-351-7237.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Milner And Orr Funeral Home of Paducah with Rev. Larry Walker officiating. Entombment will follow at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens.

Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Contributions may be made to the charity of one’s choice.

You may leave a message of sympathy or light a memorial candle at www.milnerandorr.com.