OTHO ALEXANDER ORR, ASHEVILLE - Major (Retired) Otho Alexander Orr, 79, of 311 Richmond Ave., Swannanoa, died Sunday, Sept. 29, 1996, at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Asheville.

A service will be held 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 1996, in the chapel of Williams Funeral Service, with the Chaplain Ralph L. Reed officiating. Committal services will be held at Sugaw Creek Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Charlotte at a later date. The family will receive friends following the service at the funeral home.

He was a native of Mecklenburg County, but had been a resident of the Asheville area since 1977. He was a son of the late Vick and Mamie Sloan Orr. He attended Mecklenburg County schools and the University of Maryland.

He worked for Upchurch Packard, Charlotte, from 1938 until his enlistment in the Army Air Corp in 1942, and was commissioned and received his pilot wings in 1945. After his discharge in 1946, he returned to Upchurch Packard. From 1947 until 1949, he was chief mechanic at Farmer's Dairy in Charlotte. From 1949-1952, he was employed by Blue Ridge Steel Co. in Waynesboro, Va., and Kent-Moore Tool Company. He was recalled to the U.S. Air Force in 1952. Major Orr flew B-29 Bombers during the Korean Conflict and was a prisoner of war. From 1954-1960, he was an Air Force Helicopter Pilot in Air-Sea Rescue, and was the first helicopter pilot to land on the Washington D.C. Elipse. From 1961 until his retirement in 1964, he was an Air Force maintenance officer. He received the Air Medal in 1955.

Major Orr married Mary Evelyn Newell in 1939. They were divorced in 1981. He was preceded in death by his son, James Latta Orr, who died in 1964.

He is survived by his daughters, Rebecca O. Conlon of Lawrence, Kan., Susan O. Rork of Alexandria, Va.; his son, William A. Orr of Douglasville, Ga.; his sisters, Emma Orr Nelson of Greensboro, Sarah Orr Allen of Smyrna, S.C.; four grandsons, and his longtime friend, Nancy Clarke of Swannanoa.