Steven Orinick 1954-2018

Steve Orinick 1974

Today I learned that my cousin Steve Orinick passed away last week.  Although we had not been in communication for many years, due to differences in lifestyles developed over the years, I have fond memories of our childhood.  Steve and his brother Ted were more like brothers than cousins to me growing up.  My own brothers were much older than me, but I was in the middle of a 3 year range between these 2 cousins.  When we were about 3, 4, and 5, and their parents were having some difficulty, Ted and Steve spent an entire summer living with my family in N.J. and I think that's when we really bonded.  Steve called my father his "Jersey Daddy" from that time on.

Before and after that, almost every weekend my parents would drive from our house In N.J. to the farm where my mother grew up in Pennsylvania.  My cousins lived there, and we spent Saturdays and Sundays helping care for the dairy cows, working in the fields when we were needed, and then roaming the 100 acres of wood and fields.  Some days we wandered far down the country roads, while other times we played in the hay bales in the second floor of the barn.  Over the years we had adventures too numerous to chronicle here.   My uncle had a barrel of apple cider in the basement, and sometimes we would fill some mason jars to take with us.  (As it fermented, it got even better. 😉)  On Saturday nights, when most of the adults gathered for adult entertainment, our 2 single aunts took the 3 of us to dinner or other activities that further enhanced my childhood memories. 

As we transitioned to adulthood and married life our paths diverged greatly.  Despite differences in life choices that made it impossible for us to be friends as adults, I never stopped loving my cousin-brothers, and the fact that we could no longer be friends still makes me sad.  I suspect the last few years of Steve’s life were not the best and I pray that he is finally at peace.