- Ernest Lee Arbuckle, 82, of Haines City, died May 13, 2008. He was born July 12, 1925, in Glenville, West Virginia, and was the only child of James Erie Arbuckle and Lorena Lee Fries Arbuckle.
He graduated from Glenville High School in 1942. He enrolled at Glenville State College and completed two semesters before volunteering for service with the United States Army Air Corps. He earned his wings and was commissioned a a Second Lieutenant at Hondo Air Force Base in Texas. He served with the Fifteenth (Strategic) Army Air Force, 460 Bombardment Group (Heavy), nicknamed the Black Panther, 761st Bomb Squadron in the Mediterranean Theatre. His unit attacked key targets throughout Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, Romania, Yugoslavia and Greece. From an American airbase located at Spinazzola, Italy, he flew fifteen combat missions as a navigator aboard B-24 Liberator bombers. He was awarded the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal and the Purple Heart. He was honorably discharged from active military service in 1945 with the rank of First Lieutenant.
He held a bachelor's degree in history from West Virginia University, and earned a master's degree in European history from the same institution. In 1950, he graduated from Harvard Business School with the M.B.A degree and ranked third in his class. He then returned to Glenville where he was employed by Kanawha Union Bank as its chief financial officer. He was also elected to a seat on the Bank's board of directors which he held until 1966. That year, he resigned his position and board seat at the Bank to pursue other business interests. In 1977, he was re-elected to the Bank's board of directors. Shortly after West Virginia law was changed in 1982 to permit the creation of bank holding companies, he played the pivotal role in forming Heritage Bancorp, Inc. Both Kanawha Union Bank and The Weston National Bank were acquired by Heritage. He served as a member of the Heritage Board of Directors until 1988, when the company merged with United Bankshares, Inc., of Parkersburg, West Virginia. He was a past member of the Glenville Rotary Club. He was a member of Gilmer
County Lodge No. 118, AF&AM, Valley of Parkersburg, Orient of West Virginia, Scottish Rite of Free Masonry, S,J., US.A., and the Nemises Shrine Temple of Parkersburg. He was a former member, deacon and trustee of the Glenville Presbyterian Church. He was a member and former vestryman of St. Mark's Episcopal Church of Haines City. He endowed the Ernest L. Arbuckle Chair at Harvard Business School. In 1996, he sailed to France aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2. along with several hundred other World War II veterans, and attended the ceremonies that commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the Normandy Invasion.
He married Edwina Blackwood Cowan on August 31, 1974. She died Jan. 23, 1983.
He married Norma Lee Neitzel Cardin on Oct. 5, 1985. She survives. He was also survived by three stepchildren and two first cousins once removed. On Wednesday, May 21, at 1 p.m., memorial services will be held at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Haines City. Expressions of sympathy may be made to St. Mark's Episcopal Church at P. 0. Box 1810, Haines City, FL 33841.
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1925 - 2008 (82 years)
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