MCCORKLE, WILLIAM H.

ASHEVILLE – Dr. William H. McCorkle of Raleigh, former moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States and former minister of a Wilmington church, died Wednesday [July 1, 1981] in Asheville.

McCorkle, a native of Rock Hill, S.C., had held pastorates in Knoxville, Tenn., and Bristol, Tenn., and in St. Louis. He also had served as associate pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Raleigh.

Before serving the church in Raleigh, he was interim minister at Winter Park Presbyterian Church in Wilmington from September 1978 to May 1979.

McCorkle graduated from the Citadel in Charleston in 1922 after receiving a four-year scholarship. Before entering the ministry, he taught high school at Anderson, S.C., and was an insurance salesman.

He served as a Navy chaplain with the Marine Corps during World War II. He was wounded at Bougainville in the South Pacific, for which he received the Purple Heart and Silver Star, and received a Bronze Star for action in 1944 on Guam. When he went to Annapolis in 1945 to be academy chaplain, he wore four combat stars.

He retired from the ministry in 1965 and became interim minister fro churches in the Carolinas and Florida. Funeral services and burial will be today in York, S.C. Memorial services will be held Friday in Raleigh.