Obituary of Judge Val L. McGee

Judge Val L. McGee, 95, (LTC United States Army, Retired), of Ozark, died Sunday, December 6, 2015, in Brookwood Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama. Funeral services will be 11:00 A.M. Friday, December 11, 2015, in the First United Methodist Church in Ozark with Reverend Michael Sigler and Reverend Dr. Billy D. Gaither officiating. Interment will follow in Westview Memorial Cemetery with Full Military Honors, Holman Funeral Home and Cremations of Ozark directing. The family will receive friends at the funeral home Thursday evening from 5:00 P. M. until 7:00 P. M. Val Lloyd McGee was born October 15, 1920, in College Park, Georgia, near Atlanta, the son of Val Grafton McGee and Ammie Speigner McGee. The family moved to Hartford, Alabama, where he graduated from Geneva County high school as co-valedictorian in 1938. During World War II he graduated from the University of Alabama with a BS Degree in Commerce and Business Administration. Assigned first to the 66th infantry division, he spent 20 months serving in Europe. When the war ended he enrolled in the University of Alabama law school. On July 19, 1947, he married a fellow student at the University of Alabama, Katie Breckenridge of York, Alabama. Katie Breckenridge McGee majored in home economics and elementary education and taught in the Ozark school system for more than 20 years. The couple had two children, Mary Elizabeth (Brooks) and John Breckenridge McGee, and three grandchildren: Allison and Andrew Brooks, and Rachel Kate McGee. Val L. McGee served as an infantry officer at Camp Rucker and in Europe during World War II. An attorney by profession, he was an Alabama district judge from 1981 to 1993. A former president of both the Alabama Historical Association and the Friends of the Archives at the Alabama historical archives in Montgomery, he has written extensively about Alabama history and particularly about his beloved Dale County. McGee is the author of three histories: Claybank Memories: A History of Dale County, Alabama; The Origins of Fort Rucker; and A Cross Above: A History of the First United Methodist Church of Ozark, Alabama, 1973-2003. McGee is no stranger to the Alabama state archives where he did extensive research on a well-received novel of the Civil War entitled Selma (Yoknapatawpha Press, 2008). He based Selma on reports in Alabama newspapers published in the early 1860s and more than 250 slave cases decided by the Alabama Supreme Court from 1819 to 1865. McGee is a good example of what Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation,” veterans of WWII who returned to civilian life determined to contribute to their communities. McGee graduated with honors from law school with honors in 1949, moved to Ozark and entered law practice with Mayor James Douglas Brown. He joined the Ozark National Guard, 131st Tank Battalion, and was called to active duty during the Korean War. He served as Battalion Adjutant with the Ozark National Guard unit at Fort Knox, Kentucky, then was transferred to the U.S. Army Far East Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. In 1964 he retired from the Alabama National Guard with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. For six years McGee was City Judge of Ozark, and later was an administer for urban renewal project in the late 1960s and early 70s. He returned to the practice of law until 1981, when he was elected District Judge for Dale County. As District Judge McGee pioneered in Alabama the use of probation officers trained in alcohol and drug abuse and chaired the committee of judges which piloted this approach into a program as part of the state judicial system for this and other work with the problems of addicted citizens he was awarded the “Wicker Hutto Award” by the Wiregrass mental health district in 1987. McGee is popular throughout the Wiregrass as a historian and guest speaker on the history of Fort Rucker. After his wife, Katie, died in April of this year, he moved to Birmingham, leaving behind a legacy of community service and a generosity of spirit that will not soon be forgotten. His histories of Dale County, Claybank Memories and The Origins of Fort Rucker, will be read and studied for generations to come. Charitable donations may be made to: Ozark Heritage Association P.O. Box 1912, Ozark, AL 36361. , Service Information