Lt. Col. Frank McCame Worley

Lt. Col. (USAF, RET.) Frank McCame Worley, 89, of 3001 St. Augustine Place, Asheville, died on Monday, April 26, 2010, at the Laurels of Summit Ridge. A native and lifelong resident of Asheville, Lt. Col. Worley was the son of the late Robert Jackson and Freda Russell Worley. He was also preceded in death by his wife of 69 years, Geana Elizabeth Case Worley, who died in 2009. He was a descendant of the pioneers who first explored and settled in Western North Carolina immediately following the Revolutionary War. His direct lineage stemmed from Captain William Moore, who after service in the Continental Army, was credited with being the first settler west of the French Broad River. A volunteer enlistee in the U.S. Army Air Corp in WWII, Worley graduated Cadet School and earned three sets of Air Corps Wings: Aerial Gunner, Navigator, and Bombardier. He was assigned to the South Pacific Theater of war when Japanese military expansion was at its height. He flew in 80 combat missions in WWII and in the Korean Conflict. His services rendered earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with four clusters, nine Battle Stars, as well as the Presidential Citation of the United States, the Philippine Republic, and the Republic of Korea. Upon the resolution of WWII, Worley entered the Strategic Air Command (SAC), in the era fraught with Cold War tensions when the U.S. responded to U.S.S.R. actions by keeping long-range bombers of A-bomb capability aloft around the clock. During his SAC service, he survived a flaming B-29 crash by parachuting to safety. During his service years, Worley advanced from the rank of Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel, the rank he held at his retirement. He was a graduate of Biltmore College (now UNCA) and of the U.S. Air Force Training Command as a meteorologist. He served in that capacity until he retired as Chief, Air Weather Service, Data Processing Division at Asheville, in 1973. He was a member of the United States Retired Officers Association, the National Association of Retired Federal Employees, and the National Society of Sons of the America Revolution. Like many distinguished Americans, Lt. Col. Worley started his working life delivering newspapers after school. While the record blizzard of 1936 paralyzed Asheville, Worley completed delivery to all but four of his customers who lived in the remote edge of his route. They received their papers early the following morning while the city was digging through the snow drifts. Lt. Col. Worley is survived by two daughters, Judith Taylor and husband David, of Asheville, and Donna Fountain and husband Jay, of Portland, OR; two sons, Frank M. Worley, Jr., of Asheville, and Russell Worley, of Seattle, WA; sisters, Kathryn Osborne and husband Byron, of Lenoir, and Betty J. Beasley, of Irmo, SC; nine grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. A memorial service for Lt. Col. Worley will be at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, May 10 at Kenilworth Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Dr. Allen P. Smith officiating. Interment will follow at Lewis Memorial Park. His family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the church. Memorials may be made to Kenilworth Presbyterian Church, 123 Kenilworth Rd., Asheville, NC 28803. Groce Funeral Home on Patton Ave. is assisting the family.