Patricia "Pat" Ann Murrey

Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Therese Catholic Church on March 13, 2025 at 10:30 am.  A rosary will begin at 10:00 am. in Canton, with the Father Jesudoss Thomas S.T.L. officiating. Burial will follow in White Rose Cemetery under the direction of Hiett's LyBrand Funeral Home, Wills Point.

Patricia Ann James Murrey, 74, passed away peacefully in the arms of her husband, Win on Saturday February 22, 2025 at her home in Canton, Texas following a brief illness.

Born in Kilgore, TX, to Dolores Marie Lastrapes and Kenneth Jack James on December 12, 1950, Pat graduated from Kilgore High School, class of 1969, and then earned an Associate of Arts degree at Kilgore College.  From 1970-75 she added BA, MS, and LLD degrees at East Texas A&M University (formerly ETSU) in Commerce, TX where she met and later married Winston E. Murrey, Jr., on May 31, 1974. 

Pat had a great love of education, and spent three decades teaching High School English in multiple Texas ISDs, Wills Point, Henderson HS, Tatum HS, Carthage HS, and Aledo HS.  She additionally taught Girls’ PE and coached HS sports at Tatum and Carthage.  Retiring from teaching in 2000, Pat worked as a legal secretary for Retired Judge Terry D. Bailey, G. Thomas Allison III, and Darryl Keith Law.  She returned to education as academic advisor/instructor UNPR at Texas Christian University from 2001-2006.  After moving to Savannah, GA in 2006, Pat worked as parish secretary at St. Frances Cabrini Church & School, 2011-2016, returning to Texas in 2017 where she permanently retired to her most favorite respite, losing herself in her beloved flowers, plants, and vegetable gardening at her home in Canton.  Pat also cultivated with great love and care many precious friendships, including lifelong devotion to her close circles of Kilgore classmates and ETSU college roommates.

Besides her voracious love of gardening, Pat also enjoyed cooking and spent countless hours creating southern, Cajun, and gourmet meals.  She had a passion for baking and canning, joyfully sharing her delicious creations with us all.  Cooking a Thanksgiving feast on a deer-camp RV stove was a particular specialty of hers. Pat was an accomplished musician on the piano and organ, and had an operatic first soprano voice that delighted all who heard her praise God in exuberant song at church.  Pat volunteered at the ABC Room of Van Zandt County, an emergency resource center, funded solely by corporate sponsors and private donations, which provides for the needs of children taken into state care by CPS.  Pat was passionate about the ABC room and its mission, ABC - A Better Childhood.  Besides countless hours collecting and distributing items for these children, she also served as secretary on the ABC Room Board.

In her lifetime, Pat lived in Kilgore, Wills Point, Carthage, Henderson, Azle, Savannah (GA), and Canton. She was an active church member in every parish she joined.  Through the years she served as church organist; St. Therese Lector, reading scripture during Mass; as a member of St. Therese Ladies Guild; and worked tirelessly in the kitchen chopping and cooking for every spaghetti dinner, tamale sale, pie bake, and luncheon. 

Those of us who had the honor and great privilege of knowing Pat were graced and ever-entertained by her engaging personality, acerbic wit, and easygoing southern hospitality.  She was a gifted conversationalist and a prolific, life-long card and letter writer.  We will miss the cards, and we will all profoundly miss our Pat… until we meet again.

Pat is survived by her loving husband Winston Murrey, Jr. of Canton.  By her cherished family:  sisters Staci (Donna) Landers, Bradenton, FL, Jeanie Whitsel and husband Benjamin, Fort Wayne, IN; brother Danny Brasher and wife Penny, Tyler, TX; uncle and aunt Gerald and Katherine Miller, Kilgore, TX; nephews Thomas and Christopher Brasher, Kilgore, TX.  By her husband’s adoring family:  brothers-in-law Tim Murrey and wife Kathy, Ben Wheeler, TX, Mike Murrey and wife Cindy, The Woodlands, TX; sister-in-law Susan Murrey Davies and husband John, Brenham, TX; nephews Matthew Murrey and wife Ashley, Benbrook, TX, J.T. Murrey, Jr., Tomball, TX, Josh Murrey and wife Katy, Mansfield, TX, Adam Murrey and wife Chrisse, Van, TX; nieces Stephanie Murrey Alonso and husband Mike, Pearland, TX, Melissa Murrey Sandoval and husband Matt, Carrollton, TX; great nieces and nephews Madelynn and Sara Alonso, Winston and Patrick Murrey, Aidan Murrey, Alessandra and Isabella Murrey, Colton Wiles and Loghan Murrey, and Brooke and Landon Sandoval, and by her many treasured friends.

Pat was preceded in death by an infant sister, Barbara Lynn Brasher, beloved step-father Marion "M.J." Brasher, mother Dolores Marie Lastrapes Brasher, father Kenneth Jack James, brother-in-law Steve Murrey, nephew John Patrick Murrey, and niece Kelly Murrey Jackson.

Memorial contributions may be made to the ABC Room of Van Zandt County, PO Box 195, Wills Point TX 75169

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