The last family owned funeral home in Thurston County.

Orin Hebert was born September 12, 1925, the only son of Hector and Johanna Hebert, and passed on November 30th, 2021 at the age of 96. Orin grew up in Mud Bay and attended McClain school as a young boy. He spent much of his time in the woods trapping and helping his dad log the local woods, learning to be a “high climber” using spurs to climb trees up to 150 feet tall. When not climbing trees he worked in the local wood mills.

As a student attending Olympia High School, he joined the navy in 1942 and entered the V5 program for naval aviators after graduation. Due to the number of active pilots, candidate pilots were sent to various colleges to take classes while waiting for a training slot.

In 1943 six thousand pilot candidates were given 2 options, stay in the V5 pilot program to become a pilot and officer or transfer to the fleet and serve on a ship in an active theater. Orin chose sea duty and was sent to Quarter Masters School where he learned navigation. He was assigned to the aircraft carrier Monterey serving with future President Gerald Ford, performing navigation duties and frequently manning the helm.

While serving on the Monterey Orin fought in many “smokers”, or boxing matches, where he became fleet champion in his weight class for Task Force 58 which included 17 carriers, 16 battleships, 13 cruisers and 58 destroyers.

Orin was awarded a Certificate of Recognition as a member of the first group of Americans’ to land on the beach near Tokyo Japan, after the Japanese surrender.

After the war Orin attended Saint Martin’s College on the GI Bill, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering in 1951. 

He met and married Therese Wolery who had been widowed with 3 children, Walt, Jeannette and Rita after her first husband’s death from cancer.  Orin and Terry had 2 more sons, Richard and Paul.

Orin accepted a job as an engineer that took the family around the Midwest, including 3 different states in the same year, building missile silos during the cold war. He later accepted a position with the Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Lewis where he eventually became the Chief of Buildings and Grounds before retiring in 1991.

Dad always referred to mom as “the boss”. Besides family, mom and dad enjoyed bird watching, their home on Lake Lois, and supporting Saint Martin’s College (University). Orin was an alumnus of the school, Terry worked at the school for 25 years and Walt, Jeannie, Rita and Richard are also alumni, obtaining their bachelor’s degrees in marketing, accounting, political science and civil engineering.

Orin and Terry were consistent attendees at the Saint Martin’s men’s and women’s basketball and men’s baseball games for decades. Orin was a founding member of the Saint Martin’s Athletic Foundation that promoted the athletic programs. He worked tirelessly to reinstate baseball after the program was discontinued in the early 1970’s. He was honored by throwing out the inaugural pitch for the first SMU Baseball game in 1996. Both Orin and Terry were inducted into the Saint Martin’s Athletic Hall of Honor in 2009.

His son Paul passed away at the age of 23 and his beloved wife Terry passed away on February 7th, 2019, her 91st birthday. Orin is survived by his 4 remaining children, Walt, Jeannie, Rita and Richard.