She pursued further education at Packer Collegiate Institute in New York, and studied German at the Diehl School for Oratory.

[2][4] In 1915, she spoke on "Women's Clubs and Modern Industrial Life" at the Carnegie Library in Jackson, Mississippi.

[2][3] Orr had a long personal relationship with a fellow faculty member, classicist Miriam Greene Paslay.

The pair moved to New York City together in 1920, and shared a home with Orr's nephew and a former student.

[16] Some of her letters are in the Jehu A. Orr Papers at the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.