Sara Murray

Sara O. Murray, age 95, of Cumming, GA, beloved wife of the late Thomas B. Murray for 50 years passed away on Thursday, October 6, 2016. Loving mother of Beverly Atkinson (James) and Bruce Murray (Connie). Beloved grandmother of Pamela Leasure (Bill), Robert McCallum IV, Holly Lumpkin (Chris) and Matthew Murray (Hong). She is also survived by her great-grandchildren, Jack, Kate, Matt, James, Jonah, and Jude; her nephews James O'Quinn (Ann) and Joel O'Quinn (Sally).

Family and friends are invited to gather for visitation on Sunday, October 9, 2016 from 2 p.m. until 3 p.m. at Floral Hills Funeral Home, 3150 Lawrenceville Highway, Tucker, GA, 30084.

A graveside service will immediately follow in Floral Hills Memory Gardens, 3000 Lawrenceville Highway, Tucker, GA.

Contributions may be made in her memory to: Harmony Baptist Church, Harmony Church Road, Sandersville, GA 31082.

Arrangements under the direction of Floral Hills Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Tucker, GA.

Sara Ella O’Quinn Murray was born in Milledgeville, GA on November 26, 1920. She was 95 years old when she passed away this past week. Growing up at O’Quinn’s Mill Pond on the Deepstep Road between Milledgeville and Sandersville, it was a rural life with lots of animals, hard work and dependence on farming of the land and the operation of a water-powered grist mill. Her Father, William Oscar O’Quinn ran the mill, but family life was run by her Mother, Mary Ennis O’Quinn or Miss Mae as she was called. Sara is also preceded in death by her three older siblings, James Alpha, Mary Francis, and Annie Laurie O’Quinn.

Sara grew up attending a one room schoolhouse, and continued her education by attending Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville and then to Middle Georgia Hospital School of Nursing in Augusta, GA and became a Registered Nurse. Dating a local young man who attended Georgia Military College, he was called to duty by the outbreak of WWII. During the War, Sara learned of his capture and survival of the Philippines Bataan Death March. It was only after the War that she learned of his ultimate demise by the Allied sinking of a Japanese merchant ship that was carrying him back to Japan to be used as slave labor for their war effort.

Near the end of the War, she moved to Atlanta. She worked as an Operating Room Nurse at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. She became friends with Miss Jean Murray, a Nurse Anesthetist, and sister of her future husband, Thomas Bernard Murray. After attending and watching a movie in downtown Atlanta with Jean Murray, she met Bernard on the bus ride home from the theater sharing a bag of peanuts! Not long afterwards, they were married on April 30, 1946. They first moved to Lincolnton, GA where they operated a drygoods business there because it was a hub of commerce for the construction of the nearby Lake Hartwell Dam. Not long afterwards, they returned to the Atlanta area where Bernard was employed by the State of Georgia Pardon and Parole Board and Sara gave birth to their first child, Beverly on January 27, 1948. Five years later, David Bruce was born on October 6,1953, the date that she would eventually pass.

Sara split her time between being a homemaker and a Registered Nurse performing Private Duty. She eventually joined State of Georgia employment by working with the Georgia State Nursing Licensing Board. She continued this effort until her husband retired in 1971 where they both enjoyed retirement for the next 20 years until Bernard succumbed to cancer and passed on March 15, 1997. Sara continued living in her Doraville home, taking care of sick in-laws. She bought a house in Cumming GA to be closer to her family and remained there until her health required her to move into a Senior living apartment and then later into an assisted living facility.

Sara was definitely a member of the Greatest Generation! Sara outlived her husband, relatives, friends and enjoyed a long and fulfilling life! She looked forward to her ultimate passing but knew that she left a lasting legacy for future generations with 2 children, four grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren!

I’m Free

Don’t grieve for me, for now I’m free.

I’m following the path God laid for me.

I took God’s hand when I heard the call;

I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day

To laugh, to love, to work, to play.

Tasks undone must stay that way,

I found that place at close of day.

If my parting has left a void,

Then fill it with remembered joy.

A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss;

A yes, these things too I will miss.

Be not burdened with time of sorrow,

I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.

My life’s been full, I savored much;

Good friends, good times, a loved one’s touch.

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief,

Don’t lengthen it now with undue grief.

Lift up your heart and share with me;

God wanted me now.

God set me free.