J Campbell Murrell

Born in 1920, Dad lived a long, honorable, and fruitful life. He grew up in Amarillo, Texas, living through the Great Depression and the dust storms of the 1930s. During high school, he worked as a journalist for the Amarillo Globe newspaper. After graduating as valedictorian of Amarillo High School in 1938, he attended the University of Texas where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He served in the Army Air Corps during WWII and as the personal pilot to the ambassador to France. After many years of dedication, he retired from the Air Force Reserves in 1980 as a Lt. Colonel.

He was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth, where he married Patricia Wilkirson in 1962. He was 1st Vice President/Investments and a member of the Circle of Excellence at the Downtown Fort Worth Merrill Lynch office, where he worked for just over 40 years before retiring in 1989. Since 2004, he has lived in Austin with his daughter’s family under the attentive care of several devoted nurses. He was the loving husband of the late Patricia Wilkirson Murrell (1930-1987), and brother to the late Delight Murrell Taylor. He was the beloved father of Melinda Murrell Grace and father-in-law of Guy Grace; he was a “Papa” to Jim, Jack, Caroline, and Bobby Grace. He was “Uncle J” to niece Kandee Taylor Richardson of Fresno, California.

A graveside service will be held at 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, June 27, 2012 at Greenwood Memorial Park located at 3100 White Settlement Road in Fort Worth, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Young Life Ministries, denoting Military Family Camping in the memo, P.O. Box 520, Colorado Springs, CO 80901.