Harvey Clayton Murphy

Obituary & Life History

Clayton Murphy May 10, 1932 ~ July 11, 2010 Clayton Murphy, 78, of Anahuac, was born in Shepherd, Texas on May 10, 1932 to Ruby Edna (Kimball)...

Clayton Murphy
May 10, 1932 ~ July 11, 2010

Clayton Murphy, 78, of Anahuac, was born in Shepherd, Texas on May 10, 1932 to Ruby Edna (Kimball) Murphy and Harvey Clayton Murphy. He died on July 11, 2010, at a Galveston hospital after fighting pancreatic cancer.
Clayton served our country in the Air Force, really enjoyed his time there and spoke of it often. Martha Ellen Williamson became his bride on June 27, 1959. He made friends everywhere he went. He would go in the store and be sure when he came out Clayton would have met someone new and be able to tell a story of their life! It was nothing for him to stand in a crowd and begin introducing strangers to other strangers because he had talked to and gotten to know each one. Besides staying current with what was going on in our world politically, Clayton liked to go to movies, take his wife to play the slots at the casino, tend his vegetable or flower garden because he had the greenest thumb, or enjoy a good fresh cup of coffee, but it had to be fresh. Because he had such a love for jewelry, Clayton enjoyed owning and operating Clayton’s Jewelers for 20 years, and had 20,000 customers who most times would ask for him specifically by name. He and his wife owned a house on Sam Rayburn Lake, and although just a part-time fisherman, he set the unofficial record by catching a 3.1 lb. white perch. If only he’d known to turn it in to the record keepers after they weighed it, he could be in the history books. He was a member of Conroe Masonic Lodge #748 and will have Masonic Rites at his funeral.
Preceding him in death were his parents.
Left behind to cherish his memory are his wife of 51 years, Martha Murphy of Anahuac; son, Jeffery Clayton Murphy and wife Ellie Mae (Appleby) Murphy of Beuna; daughter, Jody Ellen Murphy and husband, Howard L. Hilborn of Seabrook; grandchildren, Leslie Michelle Murphy, Heidi Ellen Kluber, Christina Ann Murphy; great-grandchild, Collin Lee Courts; step-grandchildren, Haley Rebecca Appleby and Johnathan David Appleby; siblings, Avil Murphy and wife, Joy, Francis (Murphy) McGilvray, Edna Lee (Murphy) Strobush and Robert Murphy and wife, Marsha.
Services will be 2:00 p.m., Thursday, July 15, 2010 at Sterling Funeral Home with the Rev. Richard Hensley officiating and burial to follow at Anahuac Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Eddie Bonnette, Howard Hilborn, Jeffery Clayton Murphy, Marty Murphy, Robert Murphy and Michael Repp. Honorary pallbearers are Avil Murphy and James D.Williamson.
Final arrangements for Clayton have been entrusted to Sterling Funeral Home, 1201 S. Main, Anahuac, Texas 77514, (409) 267-3456. Condolences for Clayton’s family may be left online at www.sterlingfuneralhome.com.