Oliver "Leroy" Wirick

7/8/2022

Oliver "Leroy" Wirick, age 91 of Orange City, FL, passed peacefully on Friday July 8, 2022

Born August 11,1930, near Bellwood, Cambria County, Pennsylvania to parents Oliver Frederick

Wirick and Marguerite Ella (Long) Wirick. Leroy is survived by his wife of 70 years, Clara Mae (Miller)

Wirick; one brother Milton “Butch” Wirick; four children; David Wirick, Beth Gritzer, Roy Wirick,

George (Cynthia) Wirick; numerous grandchildren and one great-grandson. He was preceded in

death by his parents and sisters Vera, Dorothy Jean, Ida, Phyllis, and Laura Ann; as well as his son

Richard Wirick and grandson Adam Gritzer.

Leroy was a 1948 graduate or Portage Area High School. After working in the Portage area for a

short time he enlisted in the U.S. Army near the beginning of the Korean War and went on to serve

in the Army Security Agency as a radio intercept operator stationed in southern Japan. Upon

returning from overseas duty, he began his employment with the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea

Company (A&P) where he worked as a meat cutter and meat department manager for more than 30

years (pre and post his Army enlistment) until 1980 when the corporation closed a vast majority of

their Pennsylvania stores. After working for a few smaller stores in the Derry/Latrobe area Leroy (as

he was known) relocated his family from Derry, Pa to Middletown, Md in 1986, where he continued

to work as a meat department manager for Magruder’s Markets, until his retirement in 1994.

Leroy was an active member of the Derry 4th Avenue church and the Hillside United Methodist

church where he served as a lay leader. He and Clara both sang in the choir and Leroy was also a

member of the Chestnut Ridge Gospel Quartet – he loved the old hymns. Leroy also served on the

Derry Area School Board. He enjoyed his children and grandchildren, camping, fishing and always

had a large backyard vegetable garden. His family and friends will remember him as a hard working,

gentle, courteous man that was always good natured, could deliver a joke well, and kept his sense of

humor until the end.

A military service is being planned at the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery in Mims, FL.

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