William "Andrew" Orinick 1917-1993

The 6th child of Mathew and Anna was a second boy.  We all knew him as Bill, but I am told his baptismal certificate said Andrew and the 1920 census lists him as Wasil.  Born in Simpson, PA, he was probably about 8 or 9 when the family moved to the farm in South Canaan and 18 when his father died.   In 1939 when Bill was 22, his mother died as well. His older brother Mike took over the farm for the first few years, but that wasn't the life Mike and Kate wanted.  When Mike married Kate the management of the farm went to Bill.  Around 1945, Bill married Hedy Hromada and she moved to the farm house with him. Their 2 daughters were born while they lived there.

Bill wasn't happy as a farmer any more than his brother was.  Around 1950 he and Hedy separated and they turned the farm over to Bill's youngest brother Ted, who had just gotten married.  Hedy and the girls went to live with Hedy's parents and Bill went to New Jersey to work at Otis Elevator with his broter Mike and several cousins.
I don't know much about Bill's life after that.  Somewhere along the line I picked up his occupation as a "Mechanical Engineer."  He occasionally went out with his 2 younger sisters to the bars to socialize and I have heard he was a lady's man.  Sometime around 1960 he found a revolutionary war era house for sale in Edison, NJ.  He and his 2 sisters bought the house.  They put up much of the down payment and he put in the work to restore it.  This was a large house with fireplaces in most of the rooms and a secret cellar where residents could hide from attackers.  Bill was a great story-teller.  I never knew when he was telling tales and when he was telling the truth, but I think this story was true. 

The house was restored to be a 2 family home.  He lived in one side and rented out the other half.  There was also a small cottage on the property in the back.  I remember the family who lived there was named Shoemaker, and I believe Bill let them stay there in exchange for Mr Shoemaker helping with the restorations and acting as a general caretaker.

Around 1975 Bill married a second time, to Betty McCarthy.  Shortly after they moved to Florida.  This marriage didn't last either.  They divorced on March 25, 1982 in Sarasota, FL.
Bill owned several properties in and around Nakomis, Florida.  The photo of Mike and Bill to the left was taken when I visited them in 1992.  He was living in a trailer park and this photo was taken just outside.  During this visit I was able to interview Mike, but Bill was not as willing to talk about the past.  His health was not good.  In his later years Bill spent time at the Eagles Club in Nokomis and developed a close friendship with Patty (Arminta) Kaminsky.  I remember hearing that they enjoyed dancing together.  She stayed with him until he died on July 12, 1993.