Richard Stanton (Dick) McCord |
| Posted 2009-04-07 by Judy Wight Branson |
| The Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona Saturday, March 28, 2009 Richard (Dick) Stanton McCord, 80, died March 26, 2009, at the Bob Stump VA Medical Center in Prescott, Ariz., after a long battle with melanoma. Dick was born Aug. 20, 1928, in College Springs, Iowa, son of Leroy William and Eleanor (Stanton) McCord. Later, the family moved to Omaha, Neb., and Dick began a professional career as a jazz drummer. While still in high school, Dick traveled with a number of midwestern bands and played in the best ballrooms across the Midwest and eventually between both coasts. He joined the U.S. Army in 1951. He returned to Omaha and attended the University of Omaha studying pre-med and served as a sports trainer. Also, during the 1950s he worked as a physical therapist with polio patients and as an administrator with the Multiple Sclerosis Society. He continued to play drums and was the first call drummer in Omaha through the mid-1960s. He played with the Eddie Haddad Orchestra, which performed on weekly television shows, and a number of musicians in Omaha, including pianist Rusty Draper. McCord and Draper composed the Presidential campaign song for Richard Nixon on 1960. Dick relocated in Denver in the late 1970s to pursue his career as a mortgage broker with Silverado Savings and Loan. After retiring, he and his wife Mary moved to Arizona and eventually settled in Prescott, which he often spoke of as his favorite place to live. Many in Prescott will remember him playing the washboard with the Geritol Hipsters, a jazz group that plays for veterans birthday parties at the VA hospital and other senior events in Northern Arizona. They were 2001, 2002 and 2005 gold medal winners of the National Veterans Creative Arts Festivals. Surviving is his wife, Mary of Prescott, Ariz.; daughters Kimberly McCord of Bloomington, Ill., and Pamela McCord of Madison, Wis.; and sister Patricia Rooney of Omaha, Neb. He was preceded in death by a brother, Robert; grandson Daniel McGill; and nephew Michael Rooney. A memorial celebration will be at 2 p.m. Monday, March 30, 2009, at the VAMC Chapel in Prescott, with a reception to follow in the theater, building 14. Inurnment will at 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, 209 at the Prescott National Cemetery. The family suggests donations to the University of Arizona Cancer Research Center, c/o Dr. Evan Hersh, 1515 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson, Ariz., 85724. Arizona Ruffner Wakelin Funeral Home assisted the family. Information provided by survivors. |
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