Tess McCormack

Tess McCormack never settled for the life others expected of her. 

Growing up in a conservative Italian immigrant family in an upstate New York town, she repeatedly heard that marriage was the goal. By 16, she knew she wanted more. At 18, she set her sights on Pan Am Airlines, but she was too young, so she turned to the U.S. Air Force. 

“The Air Force was my break,” she says.

Recruited into the Women’s Air Force with encouragement from her mentor Miss Laurie, Tess learned communication, discipline and skills that carried her all the way to the Pentagon during the Truman administration. Determined to prove her worth and impress her parents, she carried herself with confidence and grit.

“On my very first day I was lost and tried to hide my tears,” she recalls. “I looked up and there was someone with a few stars on their uniform, and I thought I was in trouble.” It turned out to be General Dwight Eisenhower, the future president, who kindly showed her to her new offices.

Tess went on to marry, raise a family and reinvent herself many times. She became a society editor, a writer and the host of Lifeline to the 90’s, a television show that ran for nine years. She authored The Epic Journey of the Flag, telling the remarkable story of her husband’s World War II relic – a Japanese flag she helped return to its rightful family decades later. She also wrote the novel Shopping List for Murder.

At 93, Tess is still a spitfire.

She dances at the town squares in The Villages where she now lives, practices Pilates, is active in several veterans’ groups and even applied to travel on the SpaceX shuttle. Her advice is simple: “Don’t stop moving. Keep your body fit, and the rest will follow.”