For more than 25 years, Orville G. Sorrell served as Erlanger councilman, mayor and city coordinator.  During his tenure, he mortgaged his home to help fund the construction of Triple E Swim Club.  

Mr. Sorrell was a board member of the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission and on the advisory board of the Cincinnati Association of Credit and Financial Management.

During World War II, Mr. Sorrell was a staff sergeant in the Army Air Corps. He flew in 25 missions over Germany. He was a tail gunner on a B-17 when the plane was shot down. Although some of the crew bailed out, Mr. Sorrell stayed with the pilot and walked away from the wreckage, avoiding capture for 14 days until they found another American unit.

Mr. Sorrell was a member of the Simon Kenton American Legion Post, American Legion Post No. 20 and was a longtime member of Erlanger Baptist Church.

After serving in the war, Mr. Sorrell attended night school at Xavier University.  At age 50, he graduated from Xavier with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and minors in business adminis-tration, education and philosophy.