Orbie E. Luman

Funeral services for Orbrie E. Luman, 80, of Milnesand, will be at 10:00 A.M., Wednesday, July 13, 2011, in the Wheeler Mortuary Chapel with his son, Joe Luman, officiating.  Burial will follow in the Mount Zion Cemetery with Jeremy Luman, Brandon Luman, Jason Osburn, Matthew Luman, Dustin Davidson, and Lance Davidson serving as pallbearers.  Chris Ray will be an honorary pallbearer.
Orbrie E. Luman was born November 9, 1930, at the family home near Lorenzo, Texas, to the home of Cordelia and Joseph M. Luman, and died July 8, 2011, in Lubbock, Texas.  Mr. Luman grew up in the depths of the tough financial times of the Great Depression.  He started working at a very young age, and when he was 13, he hitchhiked to the Amarillo area to work in wheat harvest.  Before he left, he went to the bank, and borrowed $25.  The banker made him fill out an application, and he issued a note.  When harvest was over, Orbrie returned to pay off his loan with interest, and the banker took the note out of his desk drawer and marked it paid.  It was a personal loan from the banker and not the bank.  Mr. Luman was always a very hard working and honest man.  His word was the same as his signature.  While he was still under age, Orbrie was working at a zinc smelter in Amarillo.  The work was very hard and very hot and unpleasant, but he was always dependable.
On April 29, 1951 in Amarillo, he was married to Sue Simmons.  The couple had three children, two sons and a daughter.  They were married for 50 years before they divorced. At 7 seconds after 7 o'clock in the evening of July 7th, 2007, he was married to Exa Kaye Ainsworth at the Calvary Baptist Church in Portales.
In 1953 he moved his family to Texas City to work for Union Carbide.  In 1961, he bought his father's dairy at Milnesand, and moved his family there.  In 1973, he sold out, and established Luman Construction doing work in the oil fields.  Orbrie never really retired, and continued doing jobs for people as long as he was able.  He kept cattle throughout the years, but in the 1990's he started a cow-calf production operation.  In later years, he also owned 4 producing oil wells.
When he was in his late 40's or early 50's, he took up flying, and it became a passion.  Like so many other things he did, he managed to find a way to make it pay.  He used the plane to run pipelines and check them for leaks.  He could often find leaks that others had missed.  But he didn't just fly for business.  Whenever the family got together, he liked taking them up for rides.
Orbrie was also very community minded.  In the 1980's, he helped to establish the Milnesand Fire Department.  He actively fought fires for many years, and was still a member of the fire department at the time of his death.  In addition, he served on the Milnesand Community Senior Center Board.  He resigned on March 30, 2010, after marking 44 years.
He is survived by his wife, Exa Kaye of their home; two sons and a daughter-in-law, Gary Luman of Alpine, California and Joe and Susan Luman of Odessa, Texas; a daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Robert Davidson of Whiteface, Texas; nine grandchildren, Jeremy Luman and wife, Kathryne, Brandon Luman and wife, Celeste, Lindsay Wiese and husband, Ian, Jason Osburn and wife, Nicole, Amanda Luman, Matthew Luman, Dustin Davidson, Lance Davidson, and Ashley Davidson; 12 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Alpha Joe Purcell of Whitney, Texas.  
He was preceded in death by his parents, and by a brother and sister who died as infants. 
Arrangements are under the direction of Wheeler Mortuary of Portales, 575-356-4455.