David Benson McCorkle

David Benson McCorkle, a long-time resident of Rome, Georgia, passed away at home on Saturday morning, December 19, 2015, at age 93-3/4. 

Born in rural Marion County, Georgia, on March 8, 1922, the oldest child of the late S. H. and Aurie McCorkle, he grew up during the Great Depression, and at a young age held a number of jobs, including picking cotton, pumping gas and selling men's wares. He was the first person in his family to attend college, graduating from Georgia Southwestern in 1941 with a junior college degree and a provisional elementary teachers certificate. 

He was serving as teacher and principal at Wesley Grammar School in Butler, Georgia when drafted in 1942. He served as a medic in the US Army Medical Corp. Although he spoke little of his time in the Army, he was proud that, during the Battle of the Bulge, none of the men under his care sustained any frostbite due to his insistence that they keep changing their socks. Upon his honorable discharge as Staff Sergeant, he attended the University of Georgia under the GI Bill where he met and later married George Hice of Cherry Log, GA, who shared his commitment to education. Shortly after they both received their B.S.'s at UGa, Dave and George, with their infant daughter Mery Lynn, drove across the US (before interstate highways existed) to Corvallis, Oregon where he attended Oregon State, earning a doctorate in education in 1953. 

Because George refused to move to a state where there was snow, Dave chose to accept employment at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where his son David was born. After serving as Director of Student Activities and then Director of Personnel there, he became Director of Student Personnel at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson where his daughter Sari was born. In 1961 he served as the Director of Student Affairs at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, where son Kenneth completed his family. Augusta is also where George caught the golfing "bug," and gave it to Dave, so much so that after his appointment as the first President of Floyd Junior College in Rome, Georgia, he frequently identified his position there as the college's "Golf Pro." It was his great honor to serve as President there until 1991. Upon his retirement, he was named President Emeritus of the college (now Georgia Highlands College) and spent every day possible playing golf. 

He was widowed in 2007 after 58 years of marriage. He was preceded in death by his sons David and Kenneth and his brother John McCorkle. He is survived by his daughters Mery Lynn (Rome) and Sari (Atlanta), his brother S. H. McCorkle, Jr. (Buena Vista), numerous nieces and nephews and his beloved cat Lucille. 

His daughters would like to acknowledge and thank the invaluable help given to their father by his home care aids, especially Cindy Griffin, Brittany Crumbley, and Deborah Hillery, who enabled him to spend his last years at home enjoying the birds and numerous wild animals to his backyard. 

The family received visitors on Wednesday, December 23, 2015, at 10 am at Daniel's Funeral Home with a service at 11. Graveside services will be held on Monday, December 28, 2015 at 11:00 AM in New Providence Baptist Church Cemetery, Buena Vista, GA. In lieu of flowers, please make contributions in his name to an educational charity of your choosing.