Karon Eileen (Peterson) Orr

Born in Kirkland Lake, Northern Ontario, Canada on August 27, 1939  -   parents Edgar Peterson and Marie Holinaty Peterson

Karon lived in Kirkland Lake until she moved to Niagara Falls NY to attend Nursing School at the Greater Niagara General Hospital, School of Nursing from which she obtained her diploma on September 11, 1959. Her Nursing career spanned a total of 45 years working at Kaiser Hospital on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, California. There she made good friends whom she kept in contact even after retiring.

While she attended school, Aunt Vicki and Uncle Lee would bring her to their home in Stevensville Ontario, just across the border in Canada. They would often take Karon to the meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses and even out in service. Thus, she was introduced to Jehovah and grew to love him.

She met and married Robert Wendell Orr January 09, 1961 in Niagara Falls, Canada. Karon and Bob moved to California after getting married and lived in the Los Feliz area until they divorced on June 23, 1970. Karon was helped by Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Harold who lived in Escondido, Ca, to continue her studies of the Bible. She was baptized August 29, 1969. Karon’s mother Marie had two sisters and eight Brothers. Even though their parents were originally Ukranian Orthodox, her entire family, all but Karon’s mother Marie, became Jehovah’s Witnesses. Many of the Holinaty family had a strong zeal for the ministry; serving as full time ministers, traveling where the need was great, becoming special pioneers in Quebec. Karon had that same love and strong zeal for the ministry. She joined the French Congregation in Eagle Rock, Ca.  for a few years before joining the Mount Washington Congregation also in Eagle Rock Ca.  She was so happy to have been a pioneer for the last twelve years of her life. Karon faced some challenges as a child, which led to her leaving home at 17 enrolling herself in nursing school. She always said that she never looked back. She was a determined, independent woman. Karon would often say that she couldn’t wait to meet her mother and father in the resurrection. In the 1980’s her Uncle George and Aunt Helen met her while visiting Harold and Evelyn. They invited her to their home in Niagara, Canada and she began to visit them annually. This is how she met her special cousin and good friend, Liz Holinaty who was married to Karon’s cousin, Gary Holinaty. Karon stayed with Liz and Gary from then on whenever she came to visit. She got to know their children Denise, Mark and Jared but became especially close to her nephew Jared. Jared by the age of ten was allowed to take a whole day away from school just to spend with his Auntie Karon whenever she came to visit. Liz and Karon remained very close friends down to this day.

Karon was Daddy’s girl. She loved her father dearly. Although not much is known about his family, she would often speak about how she wished that her mother would have allowed her to spend more time with him because he would teach her so much about living off the land, hunting, mining for precious metals and gold, planting and farming etc. Every summer her father would dress her as a boy to join him in doing his work of building canoes and small boats to sell to support the family.

Her mother gave her a love for reading by providing her with books. She would sit in front of the stove with her feet stuck inside of the oven to keep warm while reading her books by candlelight. She would read for hours! Reading provided her with an escape to different places, her love for reading continued all her life. She loved being with Jehovah’s people both in worship and social settings. She never spoke of having children, but she did love all of the young ones in the congregation. She especially enjoyed sharing the Kaleb and Sophia videos with moms and dads that she met at bus stops while working metropolitan witnessing at Union Station. It brought her much happiness when she encountered a person of interest in her ministry. She was a very patient, non-aggressive, respectfully gentle sharer of the Good News. Karon and I were pioneer partners for eight years. She would always tell me not to work with anyone else but her. Gradually that changed. She became very outgoing, willing to work with others even if she met them for the first time. 

When I signed up for metropolitan witnessing at the very beginning of the program, Karon was insistent on joining me to request the brothers allow her to join as well so that we would not be separated. The brothers graciously complied with her wishes. She would always tell me that she only wanted to work with me as her partner, but I would always figure out a way to get her to work with the other friends too. I found myself frequently encouraging her to widen out. she could be a bit of an introvert at first, but she tried because she knew that it would please Jehovah. As the years went by, she gained courage not only to work with other friends, but the metropolitan program helped her to become unafraid to approach anyone and everyone! We teased her a lot about her excitement and zeal to share!

She was excited about her ministry and took very seriously her vow to Jehovah as a pioneer. The month before she died she was determined to make 50 hours of service time, but she exceeded that even though she was ill much of the time, she made 55 hours. She was very proud to say that throughout her years of serving Jehovah she never missed one convention! In fact she was very excited about attending this years convention with Fran. We all enjoyed attending together every year as much as possible.

Karon walked three to four miles a day around her neighborhood and she became much loved by her neighbors almost as much as she loved them. She was always very health conscious, and she was stunned by the news of stage four cancer, her words to her Dr. were, “How can I have cancer, I’ve never been sick a day in my life, I want you to know that I’m NOT ready to die and I’m not going without a fight”!! She put up a hard fight and died a year from the diagnosis.

Karon was not only a good loyal friend to Jehovah, but she was also a good loyal friend to others. She loved her little dog Misty and it was a difficult challenge for Karon to watch Misty die while she fought for her own life. She treated Misty like family, Misty died in 2022. Karon had a very kind and giving heart which balanced out her temper. She struggled with her temper but she was more than determined to overcome it in order to please Jehovah. She looked for opportunities to help others whom she found in need, it would have made her very happy to know that most of her furnishings went to her friends and friends of her friends. She studied the bible with Fran Doroha and often made me laugh telling me stories about what a tough time Fran gave her and Betty Cahill throughout the study. Her words to Fran were, “I was glad to be the last one to study with you, You know you gave Betty and myself a run for our money, not only did you come into the Truth but we have remained good friends.” Karon truly loved Fran as if she were her fleshly daughter. She was also very much appreciative to Howard and Betty Cahill for helping her through a most difficult time in her life, going through the divorce from a husband who tried to stop her from going to her meetings. Howard unhesitatingly offered to take her to every meeting, which he did. 

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