Robert Lee McCall, 95, of Huntsville, Alabama, passed away Thursday, November 03 at Huntsville Hospital Hospice Family Care. He is survived by his five children, Robert Neal McCall (Karen), Susan Kirkpatrick (William), Beth Williams (Rick), Melissa Lewallen (Pat), and Nancy McCall; ten grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, Mildred Smoot McCall.
Robert was born in McDowell Country, North Carolina on February 24, 1927, to Hubert and Meadie McCall. He served 27 years in the US Army and was a veteran of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam before retiring from service in 1972 as a chief warrant officer four. Following his military service, Robert earned BS, MBA, and EdS degrees and taught at then Athens State College, retiring as an associate professor after 20 years. During his tenure at Athens State, he was instrumental in reviving the college’s chapter of Delta Mu Delta Business Honor Society, going on to serve on its National Executive Council beginning in 1989 and as National Delta Mu Delta President from 1995 – 1998. Robert also served in the Military Retiree Council, The Retired Officers Association (TROA), and following open-heart surgery in 1992, was a volunteer with the local chapter of Mended Hearts, Inc.
In 2002, Robert became involved in the 88th Infantry Division Association. Upon learning that there was no monument to the first Division in which he’d served, he approached the national organization about erecting one. He was given the honor of selecting the site, and on May 3, 2013, participated in its dedication at the National Infantry Museum and Soldiers Center’s Memorial Walk of Honor in Columbus, GA. Robert regularly visited the area in Northern Italy where he had served with the with the 88th Division and in 2009 published a book about his time there, Un Americano a Fusine Laghi: dal diario agosto 1945-46. Robert also revisited Korea as part of Legacy 4 Korean War Veteran’s Foundation’s “Revisit Korea 2012” trip.
Visitation will be from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday November 12, 2022, at Laughlin Service Funeral Home on Bob Wallace Ave. immediately followed by the service in the chapel.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Athens State University Foundation, P.O. Box 70, Athens, AL, 35612, (please put “McCall Delta Mu Delta Scholarship” on the note line); or to the Huntsville Madison County Public Library.
