Remembering George Orth

Levittown Loses “Mr. Terrific”

George Orth: 1933 – 2005

George Orth, a 45-year resident of Levittown lost his battle with cancer on Monday, April 2005.

Born in Ridgewood, Queens on January 25, 1933, George was educated in St. Albans, NY and tried out for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He met Mary, the love of his life at the Plattdeutsche in May of 1955. This August would have been their 47 th wedding anniversary. They moved to Levittown in 1960 where they raised their two daughters and two sons. He was a data processing manager for 38 years. Among his career accomplishments was helping to automate the Town of Huntington.

George, a member of Levittown Kiwanis since 1992 and distinguished past president of the club, was best known as “Mr. Terrific Kid.” George began working with the Kiwanis Terrific Kids Program as soon as he joined the organization. Until his illness this year, George only missed one Terrific Kids Program, rewarding approximately 1,000 Levittown and Island Trees students each year for special achievements that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. In addition, George served as the Terrific Kids Chair for the Long Island South Central Division of Kiwanis. According to his wife Mary “George lived for the next program.” George’s dedication to Kiwanis and the children in the community earned him the prestigious Kiwanis Hixson Award. George never did the Terrific Kids program to receive recognition from the club though to him the greatest recognition was to have children see him around the community and say, “There’s Mr. Terrific,” an occurrence that happened often. His grandchildren were envied for their relationship to “Mr. Terrific,” but to them them he was “Poppy,” a title loved just as much.

While his service to Kiwanis was a large part of his life, George was also actively involved in many other aspects of the community. He volunteered as a coach with Levittown Central Little League and the Pony Colt Little League and was a Nassau County Softball Umpire for 14 years. He was a past director of the Eastern Long Island Bowling Association and had been involved with St. Bernard’s Holy Name Society. He was also in the board of directors of the Yours Ours Mine Community Center in Levittown. In addition, George assisted Mary with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Earlier this month George and Mary served as the Grand Marshals of the LEADD Family Walk, in recognition of their contributions to the Levittown School District.

George was waked on Tuesday and Wednesday at Dalton’s Funeral Home and remembered on a service on Thursday at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Hicksville with burial at Pinelawn Cemetery.

George is survived by his wife Mary, his children Loretta Schiffman, Patricia Heaton, Joseph and Andrew Orth and 11 grandchildren.

George Orth will always be remembered as “Just a Terrific Adult.”

The family ask that lieu of flowers, donations in his memory to Levittown Kiwanis Club, P.O. Box 152, Levittown, NY 11756 would be appreciated.

George Orth, 72, involved in youth programs

When George Orth was eleven and had rheumatic fever, it didn’t stop him from playing basketball and softball, and even later trying out for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

After open heart surgery in 1980, he kept right on golfing, bowling, coaching Little League and running the “Terrific Kids” program for the Levittown Kiwanis.

And early last month, when Orth was told by doctors that his cancer had left him with only a short time to live, he maintained his positive attitude.

“He made all his funeral arrangements,” said his wife Mary Orth, 70. “He said he accepted was going to happen. He knew there was no more that could be done.”

Orth died last month at home in Levittown, at 72.

Born in Ridgewood, Queens, Orth graduated from Andrew Jackson High School In St. Albans and started a life long career in the developing field of computers as a data-processing manager, his wife said.

In 1955, he went on a blind date with Mary to a square dance in Franklin Square. That night, Mary recalled, “ I told my mother I was going to marry him. She thought I was crazy, but three years later we where married.”

The newlyweds moved to the house the family still owns in Levittown in 1960, and raised two daughters and two sons there.

As a father, Mary said, Orth was tireless in his enthusiasm for his children attending games and events, teaching them to play sports, and encouraging then to develop their own interests.

And as a grandfather of 11, Mary said, he was just engaged. “They were all here at the house the day before he died,” she said. “And he had something to say to each one of them.”

The passion of Orth’s life for the last 14 years was the “Terrific Kids” program of the Levittown Kiwanis, where children are honored for good deeds and thoughtful actions.

“Kids would meet him at the grocery store when he went shopping and they’d say, “There’s the Mr. Terrific Kids guy!” Mary recalled with a laugh. “It was a beautiful relationship he had with children.”

Orth was also a coach with Levittown Central Little League and the Pony Colt Little League. He was a Nassau County softball umpire for 14 years and is a past director of the Eastern Long Island Bowling Association. He was on the board of directors of the Yours Ours Mine Community Center in Levittown.

As well as his wife, Orth is survived by his children, Loretta Schiffman, of Wantagh, Patricia Heaton, of west Babylon, and Andrew Orth, of Levittown; and 11 grandchildren. Burial last week at Pinelawn Cemetery followed a service in St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Hicksville.