NAME (AKA): Allen Jernon Sidney Orndoff Jr. or Algernon Sidney Orndoff Jr.

PARENTS: Algernon ('Allen Jernon' Sidney) Orndoff Sr. and Eunice 'Unie' Farner

MARRIAGE: Minnie Myrtle Seay
DATE: December 15, 1926 / Columbus, Cherokee County, Kansas
CHILDREN (2): Algernon 'Sidney' Orndoff III, Sylvia Alice Orndoff

Record Series: Death Records
Collection: Department of Health, Death Index, 1907-1960; 1965-2014
County: Statewide
Da Reference Number: {AB3E27C6-F82E-4E01-9EF4-EEF38CA38733}
Image Number: 2014
Document Number: 9
Document Reference Id: 6871
First Name: Allen J.
Last Name: Orndoff
Date Of Death: 5 Apr 1950
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Father Name: Allen Orndoff
Mother Name: Eunice Farmer
Batch Id: 277866
Batch Locality: Washington, United States
Death Place: Coulee Dam, Okanogan, Washington
Mother Name Gn: Eunice
Mother Name Surname: Farmer
(Source: Washington State Digital Archives, Death Records - Maiden Name should be 'Farner')

WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, PUBLIC HEALTH STATISTICS SECTION , CERTIFICATE OF DEATH:
Place of Death: Coulee Dam, Okanogan
Full Name of Hospital: Between headworks of Coulee Dam and the Hospital
Usual Residence where deceased lived: Electric City, Grant county, Washington
NAME OF DECEASED: Allen J Orndoff
DATE OF DEATH: 4-5-1950
Sex: Male Color: White
Marital Status: Married
Date of Birth: Unknown (written in)
Age: 43
Usual Occupation: Carpenter
Kind of Business: Construction
Birthplace: Lacygne Kansas
FATHERS NAME: Allen Orndoff
MOTHERS MAIDEN NAME: Eunice Farner
Ever in Armed Forces: No
Informant: Sidney Orndoff
Cause of Death: Apparent Coronary Occlusion
Antecedent Causes: Medical history of a heart ailment (rheumatic fever)
Other significant conditions: Pronounced dead upon arrival at hospital in ambulance
Interval between Onset and Death: 10 minutes
Death Occurred: 4:15 p.m.
Burial: April 9, 1950
Name of cemetery: Loomis
Location: Oroville
(Source: Death Certificate - see attached photo. Buried in next town from Oroville, Tonasket, WA. Transcribed by Linda Orendoff Voss)

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BIOGRAPHY:
‘Allen Jernon’ Sidney Orndoff (full legal name: Algernon Sidney Orndoff, Jr.) was born on December 19, 1906 in Somerset, Kansas to Allen (Algernon Sidney Orndoff, Sr.) and Eunice ‘Unie’ Farner Orndoff.

As a child, 3 years of age, Allen was struck by lightening which split and opened the calf of his leg. He was subsequently struck by lightening two more times in his lifetime. As a result, Allen had heart problems as an adult (swelling and fluid) which necessitated being drained.

During Allen's childhood, he attended the public schools at La Cygne. An eighth grade school graduation souvenir from Rock Springs School, District No 61 in Linn County Kansas 1921-1922 shows they all went to the same one room school: Glenna and Allen Orndorff, James, Jess, Rosie and Oscar Mills.

Allen married Minnie Myrtle Seay on December 15, 1926 in Columbus at the Cherokee County Courthouse in Kansas. Allen and Minnie had two children; Sidney (Algernon Sidney Orndoff, III) born in Oklahoma and Sylvia Alice Orndorff born in Washington.

While living in Miami, Oklahoma, Allen worked for the US Bureau of Mines, card issued Picher Oklahoma, August 7, 1929. One day, he did not feel like going into the mines to work and refused to go; later that day, the mine collapsed killing everyone in it.

In 1932 during the Dust Bowl Days and Great Depression, Allen moved his wife and son, mother Unie, half-brothers Jim and Jess Mills and half-sister Rosie Mills from Kansas to Washington State where they settled in Omak. Later, Allen moved his family to Wenatchee.

Through the years, they remained a close-knit family. On week-ends they would all meet at his mother's Unie's house in Tonasket, and many times Allen would play his violin or guitar with his brother-in-law Herb Roper playing the banjo as everyone would visit.

Allen had an astute business mind: He built up his business, 'Allen Orndoff General Hauling', when other people were struggling with the Great Depression. Allen had two International Harvester trucks, and he would haul anything from plane propellers to hay. He was issued the second Commercial License in the state of Washington. Allen often worked in the beautiful Palouse cutting hay.

Allen worked at the Farragut Naval Training Station in Idaho (at that time the 2nd largest training station in the world, 4000 acres) as well as POW camp. One day a black car came up to him, a man got out and asked him if he would take a dignitary and several cars around the area. After Allen said yes, was done with the tour, and led the procession out of the gates, President Roosevelt got out of the black car and asked Allen to come forward. President Roosevelt shook hands with and personally thanked Allen.

People would come to him when they had a problem, they trusted him to listen and help solve their problems. Allen would help in any way he could, even financially, getting wood for the winter or buying food to feed a widow and her children.

Allen had an agreement with his pastor: if any missionary or evangelist came to their church, they were to stay at Allen and Minnie's home. One time, after moving and having no furniture or beds, an evangelist came to their church. Allen went straight to the store and bought all their beds and furniture just so the evangelist could stay at their house.

Allen was the center of the close-knit Orndoff-Mills family and held it together: his mother, Unie and step-father Frank Corbin, his brothers Jess and Jim Mills, his sister Rosie Mills Roper, and his sister Glenna Orndoff Buhrman - all with their own families.

Allen and Minnie separated; however, Allen remained legally married to Minnie until his death. After Allen's death, the family units started going their own ways.

Allen moved to Oroville, WA, where he met Bessie and her baby son Thomas Edward Judd (Please see Tommy's memorial). Allen immediately fell in love with little Tommy. Allen, Bessie, and little Tommy moved down to Electric City, where Allen again started working at Grand Coulee Dam just a few miles away.

Ten days before Allen's death, Allen and his son Sidney who was recently discharged from the US Army were working on a car together. Little Tommy, who adored Sidney, was following Sidney everywhere he went. When Sidney went into the house for a drink of water, he turned around and little Tommy was gone. An all day search ensued, until someone noticed an indentation in the grass that covered an open cesspool where little Tommy's body was discovered.

The week following, Allen expressed to his mother Unie that he did not feel well. The extreme stress of losing little Tommy that he loved, funeral arrangements, buying a plot in Tonasket to bury Tommy was too much ...

As Allen was leaving work, he suffered a heart attack and collapsed.' His son, Sidney, also leaving work, went to assist the bystanders with resuscitation, only to discover it was his own father. Allen was 42 years old.

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OBITUARY #1: "Tragedy strikes Orndorff family at Coulee Dam: Death took the second member of a Coulee Dam family within 10 days yesterday. Allen Orndorff, 42, collapsed and died as he was leaving his job as a carpenter foreman on a Bureau of Reclamation project. Last week, Orndorff's three year old stepson, Tommy Judd drowned in a cesspool near the family home." (Wenatchee World Obituary)

OBITUARY #2: "Second Death Hits Family in 10 Days: Coulee Dam, Wash., April 6: The second death in a family within 10 days occurred here yesterday afternoon when Allen Orndorff, 42, Electric City, collapsed and died as he was leaving work. Although fellow workmen immediately applied artificial respiration, they were unable to revive Orndorff. Death was attributed to a heart attack. Orndorff's 3-year-old stepson, Thomas Judd, was drowned a week ago Monday in a cesspool near the family home. Orndorff, who has resided in Electric City about a year and a half, was employed by the contractor, MK-KP company, as a carpenter foreman at the headworks section of the feeder canal. He is reported to have lived in Oroville previous to coming to this area. Survivors include his widow, Bessie, and a son, Sidney, at the home, and a daughter Sylvia, of Wenatchee." (Spokane WA Daily Chronicle; April 6, 1950, p5, Empire Edition)

CORRECTION TO OBITUARY: Bessie and Allen Orndoff were never married - she was not Allen's widow; Bessie was married to Herman A Mestmacher 1932, separated and divorced 19 years later in 1965. Allen was married to Minnie until his death.

When Allen had his massive heart attack, he fell 'forward' out of the gate instead of backward. The insurance would not pay because he fell 'out' of Grand Coulee Dam's property. Allen's name has been submitted to be placed on a Monument for those who died while working at the Dam.

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Allen was buried at the Tonasket Cemetery, (i.e., Gerhard Memorial Cemetery, I.O.O.F. Cemetery) in Tonasket, Washington on April 9, which was Easter Sunday and his mother Unie’s birthday.

Tommy Judd, 3 year old, is also buried in the same plot: Allen had originally purchased the plot to place Tommy when he drowned in the cesspool. Ten days later after burying Tommy, Allen is laid to rest there.

DATE OF BURIAL: April 9, 1950
(Source: Tonasket Cemetery Records)

FAMILY PLOT:
* Buried next to wife Minnie Orndorff
* Son Sidney Algernon Orendoff, III
* Mother Eunice 'Unie' (Farner) Corbin and step-Father S. Frank Corbin (cenotaph marker)
* Sister Sylvia Orndorff Prochaska and niece Priscilla Orndorff Pringle
* Daughter Linda Orendoff Voss and son-in-law Gerald M Voss
* First wife Lois M Manera (with husband Joseph Manera) and her parents, Ethel and Mahlon Beeghly
* Thomas 'Tommy' Judd

AUTHENTICATING SOURCE: Headstone, Tonasket Cemetery Records; wife and children present at burial.

(NOTE: Researched by Linda Orendoff Voss - this is my paternal grandfather)