OBIT: Raymond DERRY, 1940, Meyersdale, Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Richard Boyer.

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RAYMOND DERRY

Raymond Derry Shoots Himself
Popular Meyersdale Citizen Destroys Himself Without Apparent Cause

  Residents of the Meyersdale community awoke last Saturday morning to learn of 
a most distressing tragedy in their midst, enacted in the early dawn of the day.
  The news that Raymond Derry, well known and popular painter and decorator, was 
found dead in his paint shop, with one side of his head blown off by a shotgun, 
shocked and saddened the entire populace, for Mr. Derry had lived long in the 
town and was well liked and respected by practically all who knew him, as a 
competent and industrious artisan, who went cheerfully about his work and 
maintained a friendly and sociable attitude toward his fellow citizens.
  From the position of the body and the weapon that ended his life, it was 
evident that the fatal shot was self-inflicted, but for what reason seemed 
inexplicable.  No one knows that he had trouble or worry or suffering that would 
prompt him to commit such a rash act, or resort to such drastic means to remove 
himself from this troubled world and his friends and loved ones.
   Mr. Derry's last work, which he left unfinished, was a painting job in the 
new U.S. postoffice building at Masontown, Fayette County. On this contract he 
was assisted by Philip G. Reich, and Matthew Kemp of Meyersdale, going to and 
from work daily in an automobile.
  After returning home from work Friday evening with Reich and Kemp, Derry went 
to dinner with his wife at Tressler's Cafe, where they dined quite regularly.  
While at dinner and in going to and from the restaurant, Mr. Derry chatted 
cheerfully with friends, and none observed that he was despondent or that he 
manifested any unusual symptom or state of mind that would prompt him to seek 
respite from earthly ills or troubles by self-destruction before the dawn of 
another day.
  Returning to his home on Broadway with his wife, after dinner at the cafe, Mr. 
Derry retired at about his usual hour, but did not seem to rest very well.  He 
was accustomed to early rising, owing to the long distance he had to go to work, 
so Mrs. Derry was not surprised when he got up before 5 o'clock Saturday 
morning.  But he said to her that he was not going to work that day because he 
was feeling too sick.  He dressed himself, however, and left the house, going to 
his paint shop on the adjoining lot, at the rear of the home of his brother-in-
law and sisters-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. George Hady and Miss Gladys Livengood.
  About 5 o'clock Mr Hady heard an explosive noise that sounded like the 
discharge of a shotgun, at the rear of his home.  Knowing that Derry kept a 
shotgun in the paint shop, Hady hastened to investigate the occasion for the 
discharge of a gun there at so early an hour.  Upon entering the shop, he found 
Derry's body lying on the floor with a gaping wound in the head, and the shotgun 
lying beside the dead man.
  Derry apparently had placed the muzzle of the gun under his chin and pulled 
the trigger, instantaneous death resulting.  Dr. W. J. Logue was called in the 
hope that a spark of life remained, and that there might still be a chance of 
saving the life of the unfortunate man.  But the doctor found the life extinct 
beyond recall.
  At home for the weekend with his parents was Mr. and Mrs. Derry's only son and 
child, Joseph Derry, head of the music department of the Boswell schools.  The 
grief of the wife and son, when they were appraised of the tragic death of the 
husband and father was appalling.  The shock to the other bereaved relatives and 
friends also was severe.
  Morticians Joe F. and Richard Reich took charge of the remains and prepared 
the body for interment and had charge of the burial arrangements.
  The undertakers restored the lacerated head and face, so that no trace of the 
violent manner of Mr. Derry's death remained when his body lay in state in the 
Hady-Livengood home on Monday, where hundreds of friends called to view it and 
to condole with the bereaved relatives.
  Funeral services were conducted Tuesday morning in SS. Philip and James 
Catholic Church, of which Mr. Derry was a long-time member, by his pastor, Rev. 
Father Howard T. Miller, followed by interment in the M.J. Livengood lot in the 
I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Salisbury.  The obsequies were very largely attended.  The 
funeral hour was 9 a.m., but there was a slight delay owing to Mr. Derry's 
sister, Mrs. John Knecht of West Salisbury collapsing as the funeral party was 
about to leave the Hady home for the church.  She was taken to the Hazel 
McGilvery Hospital for treatment and was not able to go to the church.
  Raymond Derry's age at the time of his passing was 48 years, 4 months and 14 
days.  Surviving him besides his wife Mary, who is a daughter of the late Mr. 
and Mrs. Marshall Livengood of Meyersdale, and his only son, are his father, 
Wilbur H. Derry of West Salisbury, one sister, Mrs. Corrine Knecht, West 
Salisbury, and one brother, Leo Derry, Meyersdale.

Meyersdale Republican, April 25, 1940