Valiant Air Command Volunteer Leo Kordick Passed Away May 14 After Battle With Cancer
By Space Coast Daily // May 17, 2016
OBITUARY: Leo Mathias Kordick
Leo Mathias Kordick, 82, passed away on Saturday, May 14, 2016, at Mercy Hospice in Johnston, after a valiant nine-year battle with cancer.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 17 at McLaren’s Chapel, 801-19th Street, West Des Moines, Iowa, followed by a time of remembrance at 7 p.m. Funeral Mass will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 18 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in West Des Moines.
Burial will be at Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines on Thursday.
Leo was born on February 4, 1934 in Winterset, Iowa to Leo and Anna Kordick. He was raised in Woodward/Granger and attended Assumption High School. He joined the U.S. Army in 1955 and served until 1956, returning to Iowa, where he began a proud 40-year career at American Family Insurance.
He married Mary Finnegan in 1956, and to this union was brought six children, Karen (Pinkney) Kordick-Smith, Lori (Chris) Aldinger, twins, Dorothy (Jeff) Hentges and Dan (Barb) Kordick, Janelle (Rob) Boyd, and Pat (KC) Gerlitz.
His devotion to music began at Assumption High School. He joined the Holy Trinity Men’s Choir, and served for 25 years as a member of the Sacred Heart Parish choir. His path with music continued in the Drake Community Chorus, Des Moines Choral Society (25 years), and at Pope John Paul II’s mass at Living History Farms in 1979.
Leo happily retired to Titusville, Florida in 1998 and continued his thriving singing career as a member of multiple groups. There he lived within direct sight of the Kennedy Space Center, feeding his lifelong fascination with astronomy and space.
When he wasn’t singing, he was a passionate volunteer at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum.
Leo was an explorer and avid traveler, visiting all 50 states and 11 different countries, and loved regaling his children and grandchildren with tales of his (mis)adventures. Especially his siblings, who remember him as the ornery, mischievous, prankster youngest brother they all called “baby brother.”
He is lovingly remembered by his children, 13 grandchildren, one great-granddaughter, and a legion of family and friends across the world.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum in Leo’s name.
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