Greensville-Sussex-Brunswick County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Gay, William C., 1950 

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Sussex Man Kills Wife, Self In Baltimore 

  A joint funeral service for William C. Gay, 38, of Sussex, and his wife, 
Mrs. Alma Norwood Gay, 37, was held Wednesday afternoon at the grave in 
Emporia Cemetery.  They died Sunday in Baltimore after police there said Gay 
shot his wife and then himself. 

  The shooting occurred Sunday at the home of Mrs. Gay's mother in Baltimore. 
Both Mrs. Gay and her husband, parents of four children, died of head wounds 
and were pronounced dead upon reaching a Baltimore hospital. 

  The wife's mother, Mrs. Odie Norwood, said Gay came to the Washington 
boulevard house about 5:45 P.M. and said he had made the trip from Virginia 
to see three of his children who were with the mother. 

  He talked to the children for a short time, according to Mrs. Norwood, and 
then asked to talk to his wife. 

  Mrs. Norwood said they conversed a while in the living room of the house and 
then Gay asked to talk more privately.  They went into the kitchen. 

  Christine, 14, and William, 9, were sent to a confectionery.  Blanche, 22 
months, was taken to another part of the house by her grandmother. 

  Mrs. Norwood said Gay and her daughter had talked only a few minutes when 
she heard "what sounded to me like a pop-gun exploding twice." 

  "I ran in," she said, "and they were both lying on the floor." 

  Mrs. Gay had been shot through the forehead.  Her husband apparently had 
then thrust the pistol in his mouth and fired another shot, according to 
police.  The weapon lay near his right hand. 

  Police were called by John Norwood, 22, a brother of Mrs. Gay. 

  Police said Mrs. Gay had left her husband and moved in with her mother after 
her husband was charged with setting fire to their home in Sussex.  Gay was 
under a $5,000 bond because of the charge. 

  Mrs. Gay is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Thomas Clayton, Miss Christine 
Gay and Miss Blanche Gay, all of Petersburg; one son, William C. Gay, Jr., of 
Petersburg; her mother, Mrs. Adie W. Norwood, of Baltimore; four brothers, 
James Norwood, of Emporia, and Percy, Calvin and John Norwood, all of 
Baltimore. 

  Mr. Gay is survived by the three daughters and one son; his parents, Mr. and 
Mrs. Harvey H. Gay, of Petersburg; four sisters, Mrs. W.G. Bryant and Miss 
Nellie G. Gay, of Petersburg; Mrs. R.A. White and Mrs. E.W. Taylor, of 
Baltimore; and one brother, Harvey H. Gay, Jr., of Petersburg. 


William Caesar GAY, of Sussex, 
b. 30 Aug 1910, Emporia, suicide 22 Jan 1950, Baltimore, MD, 

Alma Vincent (NORWOOD; Mrs. William C.) GAY, 
b. 16 Sep 1912, Brunswick Co., murdered 22 Jan 1950, at mother's home, Baltimore, MD, 

interred in Emporia Cemetery*, 25 Jan 1950, 
"Sussex-Surry Dispatch" (Waverly, VA), Vol. 72, No. 4, Thurs., Jan. 26, 1950, 
   p. 1 

*Additional information: 

William's birthdate from WW-II draft card. 

William's parents, Harvey Henry GAY & Nellie Elizabeth MOSELEY, m. 1 Nov 1904 
   in Greensville Co., and div. 1 May 1950 in Petersburg. 

Harvey [Sr.] was b. 1880 in NC & d. 7 Dec 1963 in Petersburg.  D.Cert. 33595 
   (Petersburg #514) gives buried in Emporia Cemetery - "Roundhill" Cemetery 
   struck.  His obit gives b. Emporia, buried in Roundhill Cemetery, near 
   Emporia; clipping added to Find a Grave Memorial #156367956; Find a Grave 
   calls it Round Hill Cemetery. 

Alma's birthdate from B.Cert. 25188, which gives daughter of John Wright & 
   Odie Watson (VINCENT) NORWOOD.  Her parents are buried in Mt. Vernon 
   Baptist Church Cemetery, Ante, Brunswick Co., on Dry Bread Rd., just 
   beyond the Greensville Co. line.  (Find a Grave Memorial #84939423 &c.) 


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