Orris H. Flatten

Article Last Updated; Tuesday, October 20, 2009 12:01AM

Flatten

Durango resident Orris H. Flatten died of respiratory failure in Newport Beach, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009. He was 85.

Mr. Flatten was born to Henry Jacob and Annie Jacobsen Flatten in Grand Forks, N.D., on May 26, 1924.

He lived there until he joined the Navy in 1943, where he served as an electrical technician’s mate on the USS Earle in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific theaters until the end of World War II. After mine-sweeping duties in Japan, Mr. Flatten was discharged in San Francisco in April 1947.

He returned to the University of North Dakota, graduating in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in physics.

After working for a year at Convair in San Diego, Mr. Flatten continued his education at Stanford University in California, where he earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1952.

On Dec. 17, 1954, he married Ann Cramer in Laguna Beach, Calif. The Flattens lived in Fullerton and Yorba Linda, Calif., for 35 years until retiring to Durango in 1990.

Mr. Flatten worked as an electrical engineer at Rockwell International, Autonetics Division, specializing in the design of guidance systems for submarines, missiles and the space program for 28 years, from 1952 until his retirement in 1981. In addition to working at Rockwell and patenting numerous components for guidance systems, Mr. Flatten also invented and patented the infusion pump for intravenous machines now used in hospitals worldwide.

When he was 13, Mr. Flatten earned his Ham Radio Operator’s License. His family said he thoroughly enjoyed conversing with friends around the country and the world for 72 years. He also was an avid skier, beginning at the age of 5 and continuing until he was in his late 70s.

“Each of his five children was asked to contribute a word to best describe their father,” his family wrote. “They came up with patient, kind, brilliant, honorable and humble.”

Mr. Flatten is survived by his wife of 54 years, Ann Flatten, of Durango; daughter, Karen Langhart, of Durango; sons Michael Flatten of Newport Beach, Eric Flatten of Garden Grove, Calif., and Greg Flatten and David Flatten, both of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; brother, Melvin Flatten, of Seattle; 10 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

As Mr. Flatten requested, no services will be held. His family will celebrate his life with a memorial gathering at Thanksgiving.

A memorial concert in Mr. Flatten’s honor will be held during the Music in the Mountains Festival in summer 2010. Memorial contributions may be sent to Music in the Mountains, P.O. Box 3751, Durango, CO 81302.