Walter Elliott "Doc" Lauderdale IV

AUBURN < Walter "Doc" Elliott Lauderdale IV, 89, of Bluefield Manor, Auburn, died Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008, in the Mercy Health & Rehabilitation Center, following a brief illness. Mr. Lauderdale was born in Geneseo, the son of the late Walter Elliott and Helen Jenkins Lauderdale III, and has resided for most of his life in the Aurora, Union Springs and Auburn area. "Doc" Lauderdale was a graduate of East High School and attended Hobart College. He retired from the Army Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 1962. He had a long and distinguished career in the Army Air Corps and later in the Air Force. He served in the Army Air Corps as a command pilot during World War II, where he participated in the European Theatre and the China-Burma Campaigns. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and four Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, along with many other additional medals and unit citations. Following World War II, he distinguished himself as a pilot during the Berlin Airlift. He also served as a pilot for Ambassador Bedell Smith and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Following his retirement from the Air Force, "Doc" joined the staff of the Auburn Savings Bank as a mortgage officer, retiring in 1976. He was a lifetime member of the National Aububon Society, an avid bird watcher and a member of the Walter T. Conley American Legion Post No. 1107, the Union Springs Lions Club and the Frontenac Historical Society. Surviving is his beloved wife of 38 years, Betty Ruth E. Carr Lauderdale, of Auburn; four sons, Walter Elliott Lauderdale V, Ph.D. and his wife Tsai Ling, Ph.D., of Fairhope, Ala., James Charles Lauderdale and his wife Jeanne Windsor, of Concord, N.H., Master Sgt. Robert Anthony Lauderdale, USAF retired, and his wife Debra, of Denver, Pa., and Peter Lindsay, of Grand Junction, Colo.; five daughters, Mary Elizabeth Hart, of Barre, Mass., Susan Lee Hill and her husband Michael, of Remsen, and Jean E. Dorn and her husband Richard, of Morenci, Ariz., Sarah Elizabeth Ott, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Julie Knox Lindsay, of Rochester; one sister, Janet Spring, of Craftbury Common, Vt.; 10 grandchildren, Katherine Lauderdale, Susan and Elizabeth Hart, Patrick and Andrew Hill, Eric Dorn, Sage and Jonathan Ott, Reanna Lindsay and Joseph Rowley; nine great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews. Friends are invited to attend a memorial service which will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, in Willard Chapel, 17 Nelson St., Auburn. Interment will be in Geneseo Cemetery, Geneseo. Expressions of sympathy may be made to the Union Springs Fire Department, Union Springs, NY 13160; or to the Frontenac Historical Society, Union Springs, NY 13160, in memory of Mr. Lauderdale. To send a message to the family, sign our guest book at www.auburnpub.com and click on obituaries.