Albert E. Mccormick, Sr.

Albert E. McCormick, Sr., a longtime resident of Lake Wales, passed away on July 5 due to natural causes.
Born March 31, 1918 in Emsworth, Pa. to Clara (McLaughlin) and Albert Roy McCormick, he graduated from Emsworth High School in 1935 and attended the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University. While working at Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, he met Virginia Edith Schmidt of Munhall, Pa. They married on June 17, 1942.
Soon after, Al joined the Army Air Corps and served, at the rank of first lieutenant, as a navigator on a B-24 Liberator in the 494th Bomb Group. Based on Anguar in the Palau Islands, he flew forty missions against targets primarily in the Philippines. For his service to his country,He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal for extraordinary achievement in flight.
After the war years, Al worked for Prentice-Hall and Fidelity Trust Bank in Pittsburgh before he and the family relocated to Florida in 1961. He was associated as a trust officer with banks in Sarasota and Orlando before moving to Lake Wales in 1970. There he was Vice President and head of the Trust Department at the former Atlantic Bank and Trust (now Wells Fargo). He retired from banking in 1983.
Al was quite active in the Lake Wales community. An avid golfer, he was a member of The Lake Wales Country Club. He was Past President of the Lake Wales Noon Rotary Club in1980-81, Past Chairman and Board Member of the Children's Foundation of Lake Wales, and Past Chairman and Board Member of the Good Shepherd Hospice of Polk County. He was a long-time member of the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Wales, where he served at various times as deacon, elder, Sunday school teacher, Assistant Treasurer and Administrator. He was a Freemason and a member of Scottish Rite.

He was preceded in death by his daughter Andrea Lea and by his wife of 72 years, Virginia; and survived by son and daughter-in-law Dr. Albert E. McCormick, Jr. and Dr. Michelle J. McCormick of Lake Wales; son and daughter-in-law Michael J. McCormick and Lesley Vemau of Clermont, Florida; and grand-daughter and grand -son-in-law Dr. Mavis McCormick-Rantze and Edward Rantze, and great-granddaughters Amelia Nichole Rantze and Emily Margarete Rantze, of Cumming, Georgia.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Good Shepherd Hospice or the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Wales.

A memorial service will be held 10:00 AM Saturday, July 18, 2015 at the First Presbyterian Church. After cremation, interment will be in the courtyard of the First Presbyterian Church.