Orllyene takes a tumble

Tom (our son from Napa) and neighbor Wade from across the street, were unable able to help Orllyene to her feet.

Before I knew it, I had 911 on the line. She had slipped on ice and was in a sitting position. 

“Is she wrapped in something warm? Is she conscious? What are the cross streets where you are?” the operator was asking.  

I had been to the Post Office to mail a letter and when I returned home, our lives were about to change.  

Within minutes an ambulance pulled into the driveway and a swarm of volunteers took charge.  Everyone knew their job and did it. Their task at the moment was to bring Orllyene onto a gurney, no easy task and after much effort 

She was immediately taken to Carson Valley Medical Center ER, where she spent the rest of the day taking tests.  From there she was driven by ambulance to Renown’s Trama Center in Reno.  Randy, our son from Reno, had driven down to CVMC and returned to Renown and Tom and I stopped by my house for a temporary change of clothes.  Turns out, “temporary” was not an accurate word.  

Orllyene spent five days in the Trauma Center where a surgeon decided that although the ball of the left shoulder was cracked, and ribs broken, no surgery was necessary. After the Trauma Center, Orllyene was moved to a room in the Sierra Tower.  On January 7 Orllyene moved to Randy and Rosemary’s house, along with Marla (daughter from Kentucky), Tom and me.  But, hold on, it wasn’t over yet.  Orllyene’s urinary tract was infected and her blood stream infected.  This precipitated five days at Northern Nevada Medical Center where she was admitted and given five days of intravenous antibiotic treatment. After some more recovery time with Randy and Rosemary, we finally high tailed it for Smith Valley on February 3rd and our luck was changing. Unbeknownst to us a fox has taken up residency on our five acres. 

Now for a tale of uncommon coincidence. Orllyene and I were having lunch at the Full Deli Belly in Minden recently when I noticed a license plate that read “A HOOFER.”  I couldn’t resist and asked a patron if she was the “Hoofer.”  She confessed she was and joined Orllyene and me for lunch. After a few probing words we discovered we might have been in New York at the same time many years ago.  Bingo! We both took Luigi’s Jazz Dance class, auditioned on Broadway and did summer stock. We pinned down the year. It was 1958.  Her name is Lynn Knudsen and she was in “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and several other Broadway hits and stayed in New York for 11 years.  I ducked out after two years, returned to Hollywood, married Orllyene and became a choreographer. Each of us found our calling in different ways and will inevitably stay in touch. 

Ron Walker can be reached at walkover@gmx.com