Obituaries

Published: Sat, Jun 30, 2001: http://www.thereporter.com/Current/Obits/2001/0625_070101.html

Wallace McCormack

Mr. McCormack died July 25, 2001, after a brief illness.

He was born in 1911 on his parents' ranch in the Montezuma Hills south of Rio Vista. His father, Dan McCormack, had emigrated from New Brunswick, Canada, to the Montezuma Hills in 1892. His mother, Ethel McLaurin, grew up in the Delta, where her family farmed on Twitchell Island.

Mr. McCormack attended school in Rio Vista and was a star basketball player at Rio Vista High School, graduating in 1928. He studied at Pomona College until his father's ill health forced him to return to Rio Vista and take over the family farming business. In 1938, he married Helen Barr, daughter of Los Angeles newspaperman Wesley M. Barr.

Mr. McCormack farmed on Sherman and Tyler islands, the Rindge Tract, and in the Montezuma Hills. In 1936, he was elected to the board of directors of the Bank of Rio Vista, which his father and uncle, state Sen. Thomas McCormack, had helped to found. He became vice president in 1939 and president and chairman of the board in 1949.

After World War II, he was instrumental in directing loans to Japanese farmers returning to the Delta and Solano County from internment camps.

During the 52 years of his leadership, the bank grew from $6,000,000 in assets to $128,000,000 and from one office in Rio Vista to four branches throughout the Delta.

Following in his father's footsteps, Mr. McCormack was named to the state Board of Reclamation by Gov. Pat Brown. He continued to serve on the board under Gov. Ronald Reagan. Gov. George Deukmejian named him president of the board.

He was a member of the Sutter Club and was one of 33 original charter members of the Rio Vista Lions Club. He was honored last April as the last living founding member of the Rio Vista Lions. For many years, he was a member of the Rio Vista Fire Department.

Mr. McCormack's great love of horses took him all over the state and indeed throughout the world. He was the last farmer in the Montezuma Hills to farm with horses, and he vividly remembered as a boy harvesting grain with teams of 28.

As a young man, he drove teams of Percheron and Clydesdale draft horses, eventually owning a prize-winning team of black and white Clydesdales and driving for the Coberly-West Company of Bakersfield in horse shows and draft- horse competitions throughout California. He and his team made an annual appearance at the California State Fair.

Locally, he drove his team in the Bass Derby parade and at the Farm Bureau sheep dog trials and picnic. In 1949, he became a member of the Rancheros Visitadores and joined the Los Flojos camp. He was a member and past president of both the Sonoma Trail Blazers and the Frontier Boys riding groups.

Mr. McCormack is survived by his wife, Helen; sister, Helen Lorne McCormack of Lodi; sister, Florence McCormack Scarlett of San Francisco; and daughter and son-in-law, Jeanne McCormack Medvitz and Al Medvitz.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Rio Vista Museum Association, 16 Front St., Rio Vista, 94571 or to a charity of one's choice.

Published: Sat, Jun 30, 2001

Notes on Wallace

Wallaces' father was Dan McCormack, whose parents were Donald McCormack & Janet McBride.  Donald McCormack and gg-grandfather Charles were brothers.  Dan McCormack along with his brother Thomas McCormack show up in the 1891 census of Restyigouche, New Brunswick, and then again in the 1900 census of Rio Vidsta, Solano county.