Kelly Raymond Hurst Biography
By Sylvia Acord Bragg

Kelly Raymond Hurst was the son of Dr. Posey & Dora Hendricks 
Hurst he was born at Posey Saxon in Raleigh County West Virginia.
The family moved to Oceana Wyoming County West Virginia in spring 
of 1929 to a thriving and booming Coal Mining Town and as Doctors 
were scarce his fathers practice thrived and before long the 
family built a large beautiful 2-story home and office near by 
in the middle of town. 

And how they along with another man had torn down an old school 
for the lumber and both families had used the lumber to build 
their homes.

The year they built their new home his dad had planted some tiger 
lilies from their old home place in Raleigh County, in the front 
yard and young Holly tree in the back yard and it is still 
beautiful today.

And as they had four children Kelly Raymond Hurst, Jack Hurst, 
Garnett Hurst Dearing and Grace Hurst Worrell all four children 
went to College and Kelly, Grace and Garnett became 
schoolteachers.

The family home was a meeting place for all the local functions 
and the teenagers just loved it, for my mother-in -law Rita Elkins 
Bragg as her older sisters were friends with Grace and Garnett.

And sometimes she would get to come along with Callie & Millie, 
she has told many stories of the young people dancing in the 
parlor under a beautiful chandelier and the laughter of the 
young folks as Mr. & Mrs. Hurst always excused themselves.   

Kelly Raymond Hurst was the Grandson of Dr. Crockett Hurst and 
the son of Dr. Posey Hurst so when he started college he fully 
and was expected to be a Doctor.

He told stories of how it didn't take someone with much intellect 
to figure out he couldn't once his studies started he just could 
never be a Doctor.

Because for years he was on the receiving side of medicine and 
doctors for as a very young lad he fell very ill to the Killer 
epidemic of Swine Flu that left entire families laying dead for 
weeks and there was no one well enough to bury the dead and burn 
their homes, I remember long ago seeing Grandpa Kelly's photo in 
the newspaper as being one of only two survivors of that epidemic 
still living.

He talked of how his Dad had worked for so many weeks and went 
without food or rest and had ridden two horses to death trying 
to get to so many folks and when someone had already died how 
his father would grieve for those folks and the horror of entire 
families had died.

Grandpa Kelly was bedfast for seven years and his mother home 
schooled him so his education would continue, as she was a 
teacher also.

He loved to tinker on automobiles, and how when a young man 
traveling back and forth from college how fortunate he was to 
have a car and how big the ruts were in the road between 
Huntington and home and how those roads eventually developed 
cars into a hobby and then after several years of teaching 
would, became his business for years as he was the Owner & 
Operator of Kelly Hurst's garage on Route 10 which is Cook 
Parkway or Main Street In Oceana, Wyoming County West Virginia.

The once again illness struck him he had A nerve laying on his 
inner ear canal that would abscess and then bleed for weeks and 
his 1st cousin had died from the same thing the Doctors had tried 
to operate and he died on the operating table so the surgery as 
far as Grandpa Kelly was concerned was totally out of the 
question, no matter how bad the pain and he most certainly 
did suffer from this he would stagger and hold his head as 
we changed his pillow cases and cleansed his ear the side of 
his head so many times .

So ever once in awhile he pulled a cork, although he was truly 
a gentleman though because in his entire life I don't believe 
he ever uttered a curse word and always was truly respectful 
of another person's feelings .so as not to intrude on other 
people he spent most of his time reading as he truly loved 
books always worked crossword puzzles.

I know he instilled the love of reading for me lots of summer 
evenings as Grandpa Kelly Myself and my grandmother Sylvia 
Davidson Hager Hurst would sit on that huge front porch in the 
rocking chairs and chat about just about everything we talked a 
lot about how you could travel and see anything or anywhere in 
the world if you just closed your eyes and opened your mind 
through the knowledge of reading.

We talked of his mother's potato salad as it was his most 
favorite food he always wanted me to make it for him as I had 
learned to make it just like Granny Hurst, with large chunks 
of potatoes an mustard in it.

He also taught me to make homemade cottage cheese like hers.

When I read of an old Southern gentleman and his well bred 
manners & politeness always holding the door for a woman and 
being overly cautious about your feelings I always imagine 
them as being like my Step- Grandfather Kelly Raymond Hurst .

More tragedy was to hit him, as he was the 1st and only man I 
know to have Breast Cancer. He would suffer even more as no matter 
the surgery and treatment it spread to his face and nose and he 
developed Tuberculosis and was in the hospital for 2 years. 

He loved my grandmother and only her until the day he died as she 
passed away not six months before him, he just laid down and 
grieved until he died February of 1973 at home in Oceana Wyoming 
County West Virginia 

He along with his brother and mother and father are buried in 
Beckley, West Virginia.
            



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