G Roy Murray

G. Roy Murray, born 15 December 1916 in Clinton, Oklahoma to Jesse Murray and Alpha O. Hill. Died in Gilmer, Texas on 12 August 2010.

Roy served in the Army Air Core (now known as the Airforce) in World War II. He was in the South Pacific arena on the island of Tinian. He was a navigator on a B-29 and it was from that island that the planes took off to reach Japan.

Roy was a “jack of all trades.” He worked for Coca-cola Bottling company early in life. He spoke of being a scoutmaster when he was younger. I can remember he and mother owning a restaurant in Orange, Texas and a filling station also. He worked at one time or another for Gulf States Utilities Company, for an auto-parts store, had a Snap-on Tool route and for Kinsel Ford. He also helped Louis Williams from time to time with their mortuary duties. He delivered samples for oil companies and worked till he was 72 years old before he “retired.”

He always had a hobby going. At one time he had tiny trains with tracks. He also loved to race boats in the Neches river and we were in a boat club. He loved working in wood and when he was 90 years old, he built his own wood shop to house all his equipment. He loved animals and we always had some type animal around the house. When I was little, we had cocker spaniels. The black and white male was named Smudge. The solid black female was named Lady. We had birds, rabbits and cats too. We lived in the tri-city area either in Beaumont or Orange while we were growing up.

Roy was thin all his life until he had a quadruple by-pass. When he asked the doctor why he had a heart attack, the Dr. replied because you smoke. At that point, he quit smoking. He was a walking phenomenon. He managed to live longer than any man in our family.

When he was 91 years old he decided he did not need to take any more medicines. He had diabetes and was recovering from a serious blood clot. He passed out and was in the hospital. While in rehab from that, he was in the Upshur Manor Nursing Home in Gilmer, Texas. He told us he like it there, so we made arrangements for him to stay. Sometime later a Springer Spaniel came to the home and “adopted” Roy. We have her story in print. She will miss Daddy and so will we, but we know he is happy in his new home.