Dorothy Bragdon McCormick, born on March 31, 1922 in Pittsburgh, Pa. to the late Ruth Josephine Hughes and Major General John Stewart Bragdon, passed away peacefully in her home on April 11, 2018 at 96 years of age. Mrs. McCormick, a widely known and visionary leader in early childhood education, was a long time resident of McLean and is survived by her six children and six grandchildren.
Dorothy, her late sister Ruth Bragdon Donovan and late brother John Bragdon, shared the life of Army children, educated in the Philippines where her father served on the staff of General Douglas MacArthur, and several other military postings around the world. She graduated from Garden City, N.Y. High School Class of 1938 and attended Pembroke College (now part of Brown University) before graduating from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 1942. Following college, she was commissioned in the U. S. Navy (WAVEs), attaining the rank of Lieutenant, JG, and designated as one of the few armed female naval couriers. Upon the conclusion of World War II, she formally entered service in the OSS, the precursor to the CIA.
On Veterans’ Day, Washington D.C., Nov. 11, 1948, Dorothy married the late Robert Louis Laing McCormick. Over the next dozen years she transitioned into the role of mother, homemaker, and volunteer for various organizations, including several years as a docent at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History.
In 1960, Dorothy formed a playgroup for the children of friends. As a psychology major, she had a strong interest in early childhood development which evolved into the creation of Country Play School in 1964, situated in the lower level of the family home. By 1971, the school of 84 children had outgrown its space. Dorothy then purchased the Happy Hill School at Langley Fork in McLean, reestablishing it as the Country Day School. Since its founding the school has served generations of children as a pre-eminent center of early childhood education in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
During her stewardship of Country Day School, Dorothy found time to earn a master’s degree in early childhood education from Wheelock College. Over the course of her career she received the McLean Business and Professional Club Woman of Achievement award, 1970, and the Certificate of Achievement from the American Association of University Women, 1998. Dorothy retired in 2002, spending her following years archiving school history and photographs and devoting time to her family.