Southampton-Nansemond County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....McMurtrey, Ralph W., 1969 

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RALPH WILLIS McMURTREY 

   HOLLAND - A funeral service for Ralph McMurtrey was conducted Friday at 3 
p.m. in the Franklin Baptist Church, Franklin, by the Rev. Ira D. Hudgins and 
the Rev. Carl L. Ousley.  Burial was in Southampton Memorial Park with W.J.M. 
Holland & Sons Funeral Home in charge.

   Pallbearers were Tim Eure, Allen Beale, Robert Hotchkiss, Robert Raiford, 
Curtis Holland, Otis Rainey, Owen Wade and William George.

   McMurtrey, 58, of Holland, who was shot and robbed in a High Street alley 
in Portsmouth Oct. 25, died Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. in Portsmouth General 
Hospital.

   Detectives said the body was taken to the state medical examiner’s office 
in Norfolk  where an autopsy was performed to determine the cause of death.

   McMurtrey, a Franklin mechanic underwent surgery Oct. 25 for a gunshot 
wound in the abdomen.  He was discharged from the hospital Nov. 23, and was 
readmitted Jan. 26 for treatment of nausea, vomiting and jaundiced appearance.

   The victim had told police he was walking east on High Street about 8:30 
p.m., when seven Negro teenagers grabbed him, dragged him into an alley, and 
robbed him of his wallet containing $100.  He said he was shot during the 
scuffle.

   On Nov. 14, detectives accused Sinclair Simon, 18, of armed robbery and 
felonious assault in connection with the episode.

   Shortly after his arrest, Simon was also charged with taking a .38 caliber 
pistol and $40 in cash Oct. 23 during a burglary at the apartment of Martin 
Davis Perry, 1400 block of Ida Barbour Drive.  Simon is being held in jail in 
lieu of $15,000 bond.

   The defendant, who lives in Portsmouth, the 100 block of Linden Avenue, is 
still awaiting trial on the charges.  The McMurtrey case is being investigated 
by Detective Leroy Reynolds of the homicide squad.

   A native of Rison, Ark., McMurtrey was the husband of Mrs. Thelma Oakes 
McMurtrey and a son of the late Eli and Mrs. Cora Cowan McMurtrey.

   He was a refrigeration mechanic for Union Camp Corp., Franklin, and a World 
War II veteran.

   He was a member of Holland Baptist Church and Franklin Masonic Lodge 51.

   Besides his widow, surviving are a son, Richard Wade McMurtrey of Suffolk; 
two daughters, Miss Sandra Marguerite McMurtrey and Miss Patsy Louise 
McMurtrey of Holland; three brothers, Alton McMurtrey and Joe McMurtrey of 
Rison and Milton McMurtrey of Forst Lauderdale, Fla; and two sisters, Mrs. 
W.E. Lewis of Danville and Mrs. H.K. Pettigrew of Mandeville, La.


Ralph Willis McMURTREY, of Holland, Union Camp refrigeration mechanic, 
WW-II veteran, 
Rison, AR native, shot & robbed 25 Oct 1968, Portsmouth, 
d. 28 Jan 1969, Portsmouth, age 58, 
interred in Southampton Memorial Park (Masonic II, Plot 120*), 18 Oct 1968, 
"The Tidewater News" (Franklin, VA), Feb. 3, 1969, p. 6 

*Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project, 
   Southampton Memorial Park list: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/cemeteries/somempk.txt 


Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), 
and re-formatted by File Manager. 

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/m256r1ob.txt