About Ray Orrock

Whether you knew Ray Orrock in person or through his daily newspaper column, you will likely agree there isn't any conceivable way to explain everything Ray Orrock was and is. Delightful, charming, witty, laugh-out-loud funny, kind, warm, integrous and often self-depricating; a great conversationalist, a sensational storyteller, a walking library and trivia vault; an appreciator of good salami, a good hi-ball, a good book and the best person to watch a ballgame with––you'll find all of this and more in his daily columns.

Ray Orrock was born in 1929 in Napa, California, where he was raised along with his two younger brothers, Jim and Bill. He went on to earn a degree in philosophy from the University of San Francisco before entering–then leaving– the Catholic seminary (meeting his would-be wife, Marlene, may have had something to do with that). Ray joined the Navy, serving his country on the USS Saint Paul during the Korean War. Ray and Marlene were married in San Francisco in 1952 and had their first son, Chris, in 1954, followed by daughters Donna, CJ, Eileen and son, Mark.

While working as the director of Snedigar College, an Alameda County interim foster care home for children, in the 1960s, Ray began writing a weekly column for The Catholic Voice publication. His delightful columns caught the attention of Mike Nichol, editor of The Daily Review in Hayward, CA. Mike paid Orrock to reprint his Catholic Voice columns in The Daily Review– $5 per column. This went on for some time until, after a great deal of thought, Ray decided it was high time he was paid $10 per column (still a fraction of what a newspaper writer would earn). In the spring of 1971, Orrock and Nichol met for a drink, but before Ray even had a chance to make his request, Nichol offered him a full-time position as a daily columnist for The Daily Review. The rest is history.

With the exception of The San Francisco Chronicle's Herb Caen, very few columnists of the time wrote daily, but Ray managed to write great columns five days a week for 35 years. Syndicated in every East Bay Area newspaper, including The Oakland Tribune, The San Jose Mercury, The Fremont Argus, The Berkeley Gazette and The Tri-Valley Herald (as well as several other California and out-of-state papers), thousands of Bay Area residents began their days with a smile, a laugh, a brain-teaser, a great story or the occasional melancholy tingle of warm nostalgia.

So, as you can see, the very best way to get to know Ray Orrock and take a peek into his wonderful little world is to read him yourself.

The Jaborrocky Project is committed to archiving and making available what we hope will be nearly every column written by Ray Orrock in his 35 year-long career. These columns were written in a different time, but remain as relevant, funny, witty, and downright enjoyable as the day they were printed.

So make yourself a salami sandwich, grab a nice cold glass of milk (or a Bourbon & Seven, depending on what sort of day you've had), sit back in your favorite chair and enjoy it all again . . . or for the first time.

Enjoy reading Ray Orrock.