His responsibilities include providing pastoral care to members of the church family, especially Seniors--visiting the sick and shut-ins at home, in hospital or institutions; and assisting in ministry to the congregation in a variety of ways, as required. His personal credo is: “Service to humanity is the best work of life” and, not surprisingly, his personal history embraces an extensive record of community service and leadership.

Family, music, church, motoring and movies are the foundations on which Orville operates and from which he radiates. These all go back to his earliest days as a boy in Kingston, Jamaica. Church life was the crucible in which his religious training, love of music and elocution, as well as his lifelong community spirit were honed.

Orville was very active in school activities, including the Wolf Cub Pack, and by the time he was seven he had represented his school in singing at Jamaica’s first radio station (a feat he was to repeat a few years later in high school), adding elocution, drama and scouting to his rapidly developing resume. In high school he was active in drama, the school magazine and, of course, singing. He also had a stint in the Army Cadet Corps. In the meantime he was adding to his piano skills (started at age five), gaining certificates for Grade 8 (Practical) and Grade 7 (Theory) from the Royal College of Music, and some training in pipe organ.

Further studies took him to Washington, DC, at Howard University, where he maintained his passion for singing and community work by joining the Howard University Choir and the Caribbean Association; and then to American University where he gained the B.A. degree in Public Relations, while enjoying a leadership role in the International Students’ Association. After graduation, he was elected President of the Caribbean Graduates’ Association of Washington.

The multi-talented Orville then worked as a general-assignment reporter with the Washington Afro-American newspaper. He cites among his most notable assignments: the Poor People’s March on Washington; the installation of Thurgood Marshall as first Black Supreme Court Judge; Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson’s installation of Washington’s first elected City Council; the initial tour of Washington by its first Mayor; and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s final speech in Washington, just days before his assassination.

His career in the professional practice of Public Relations began in Washington in an agency of the US Federal Government and spanned some 20 years in the USA, Canada and the Caribbean.

Then came a new chapter in Orville’s life. Fulfilling a long-held desire to widen his service to humanity, he enrolled at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1993. Needless to say, his old friends--singing and community affairs--resumed their place in his life through the Seminary Choir and the International Students’ Association, of which he was President.

During that period he performed a range of extra-curricular activities: conducted English conversation classes for Korean graduate students; was Sunday School Director for the New Orleans Korean Presbyterian Church; played piano for a weekly worship service at a seniors’ residence and in a ‘supply’ capacity for several churches in the city. He graduated in 1996 with a Master of Divinity degree in Counselling Psychology and a minor in Theology.

Returning to Toronto, he developed a private practice in marriage and family therapy, also providing contract counseling services to the Yonge Street Mission’s Community Centre in the heart of downtown Toronto for almost 10 years. He counsels individuals, couples, families and groups in personal emotional and life issues, in the resolution of interpersonal problems, parenting concerns and marriage preparation.

Orville has been married to his wife, Beulah, for over 40 years; they are the parents of a daughter, Maija (Mayne) and have three grandchildren.