John Wilton Cormier

Breaux Bridge - Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m., on Sunday, February 23, 2014, at Pellerin Funeral Home Chapel in Breaux Bridge, for John Wilton Cormier, 95, who passed away on Thursday, February 20, 2014 at his home in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. The family requests that visiting hours be observed Sunday, February 23, 2014 from 8:00 a.m. until time of service at Pellerin Funeral Home in Breaux Bridge. A rosary will be prayed at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday. Deacon Marcel Butch Hebert will conduct the services. There will also be a service at Ulmer Funeral Home, 1208 S. Garrison, Carthage, MO at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, March 1, 2014 with interment immediately following at Powers Cemetery east of Diamond, MO. He was born December 8, 1918, in Parks, Louisiana. He attended Breaux Bridge High School and married Kathryn Joslin of Joplin, Missouri on August 11, 1943. He joined the United States Marine Corps in 1936, following the basic course of instruction at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana. He qualified as a pistol marksman and gun range finder operator and served aboard the U.S.S. Wyoming from January 1938 to December 1939. During World War II, he served as a bugler and an anti-aircraft machine gun crewman in the Pacific aboard the U.S.S. Springfield. Sergeant Cormier was honorably discharged in November 1945. After the war, under the G.I. Bill, he studied business at Strayer College in Washington D.C. He worked as a guard at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. before and after the war, retiring in 1973. In 1972, the librarys information bulletin noted his presence in the Capitol Rotunda when he and other members of the librarys special police force paid their respect to the memory of J. Edgar Hoovera library employee before his career in the FBIas the lawman's body lay in state. He loved to travel and on vacations would come home to Lafayette where his mother lived and enjoyed his mothers cooking; his favorite dish was catfish courtbouillion and fried catfish. After retiring, he and Kathryn moved to Joplin, MO where he enjoyed playing checker with his father-in-law. After the death of his wife, he then moved back to Breaux Bridge, where he passed away at his home peacefully. Never a casual dresser, he rarely appeared in public without a tie, even years after retirement when mowing the lawns of elderly relatives. Never in a hurry but always punctual, he collected wristwatches and mantel clocks without obsessing over the nature of time. A quiet man, he never demanded respect, but inspired it just the same. Survivors include his sister in laws, Ermanell Olinger of Houston, TX, Georgia Ann Joslin of Columbia, MO, and Ann Cormier of Maine; brother in law, Muryl Olinger of Houston, TX; 17 nieces and nephews and a very special friend, Levi Sonnier. He was preceded in death by his wife, Kathryn Joslin Cormier; his parents, Aubin and Edith Hebert Cormier; his brothers, Gussie and Leroy Cormier; and his sister, Jeannette Broussard. The family would like to thank his caregiver, Myrtle Lasseigne and the members of the Amedisys Hospice. Pellerin Funeral Home of Breaux Bridge is in charge of arrangements. To view on-line obituary, sign guestbook and view video tribute, go to www.pellerinfuneralhome.com