Mavis "Armilda" Armilda Mccormack

Armilda McCormack, 86,  died on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, at the Park Manor Rehabilitation Center in Walla Walla, Washington after several years of declining health.

Armilda McCormack appreciated beauty in all its forms—a scenic landscape vista, a masterpiece on the museum wall, a stirring symphony movement, a well-tended flower garden, a tastefully decorated room, an outfit put together just right; she relished it all. It’s a bit ironic that she never fully recognized the beauty that her family and friends saw in her.

Mavis Armilda Bagwell was born on January 2, 1939, in Boswell, Arkansas, the daughter of Myrl and Beatrice Bagwell. The family settled in nearby Calico Rock during Armilda’s school years. It was in Calico Rock that she fell in love with her husband of 63 years, Bob McCormack. They married on September 29, 1956, and moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas where Bob completed his accounting degree from the University of Arkansas and began his career in higher education financial management. Their daughters Teresa and Sondra were born during these years in Fayetteville.

In the mid-1960's the family moved to Little Rock for Bob’s job with the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, and after the girls began school, Armilda started her working career, managing a dentist office.

In 1979 Armilda and Bob relocated to Conway, where he became Vice President of Financial Affairs at the University of Central Arkansas. Armilda worked several years as a marketing services supervisor for a vending machine manufacturer before launching her own highly-sought-after interior decorating business, “Interiors by Armilda.”

Shortly after Bob died in November 2019, Armilda moved to Walla Walla, Washington to be near Teresa and her family. Sondra also moved temporarily to Walla Walla to ride out the COVID pandemic. Armilda was thrilled finally to have most of her family nearby, after so many years of being separated by fifteen hundred miles. Frequent visits from incomparably cute great-grandsons Weston and Cole brought special delight to her.

Armilda and Bob loved camping in north Arkansas, in everything from tents to campers (the infamous “Pregnant Caterpillar”) to full-blown RVs. They also traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Armilda cherished hosting and cooking for the annual family Christmas celebrations and countless gatherings of friends and colleagues. She had many dear friends and an abundance of love and compassion for all aspects of her friends’ lives.

While living in Conway, Bob and Armilda especially enjoyed attending all the extensive cultural events hosted at the college. As a couple, most people viewed Bob as the “mover and shaker”, and justifiably so, given his career. But her close family knew that she was the smart one, “with it” in Bob’s parlance. She was intellectually curious and very well-read, and she had a good head for numbers. She followed politics closely and was a very proud Democrat.

Thanks for the warm milk, Gigi! We love you and miss you.

Armilda was preceded in death by her husband Bob and sisters Loretta Poston and Marcella Kankey. She is survived by daughter Teresa Harrington and husband Scott of Walla Walla, Washington, daughter Sondra McCormack of Little Rock, Arkansas, grandson Grant Harrington of Walla Walla, grandson Todd Harrington and wife Elizabeth Bourcier of Walla Walla, great-grandsons Weston Harrington and Cole Harrington of Walla Walla, sister Nettie Tipton of Mountain Home, Arkansas, and brother Lonnie Bagwell of Mountain Home.

A memorial service to honor Armilda’s life will be held on Saturday, June 7 at 10:30 a.m. at First United Methodist Church of Conway. Memorial gifts may be made to the charity of your choice.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the Herring Groseclose Funeral Home. Friends and family are invited to sign the online guestbook at www.herringgroseclose.com.