Obituary of James Henson Murray

James Henson Murray, often helped others James Henson Murray was the kind of guy who couldn't see something that needed done without doing it. When the fledgling Taylor Mill Fire Department put the call out for emergency medical technicians in the late 1960s, Mr. Murray signed up and became one of the first EMTs in Kentucky. When his daughters' Taylor Mill Boosters softball team went searching for a coach, he stepped up, then coached the league's all-star team in the postseason. When another motorist ran off Ky. 16 and his car plunged down an embankment into a creek in the 1970s, Mr. Murray scrambled after him, holding the man's head above the water to keep him from drowning and finally freeing him from the submerging vehicle. And when he retired in 1989 after suffering a stroke, he regained his health to the point where he volunteered for 12 years at HealthSouth in Edgewood, visiting with patients, filing, shredding documents and doing other chores. "He was constantly jumping out to help other people," said a daughter, Karla D. Rengering of Covington. Mr. Murray, of Covington, died Tuesday at St. Luke Hospital West, Florence. He was 72. He got his start on a 20-year stint as a Taylor Mill volunteer firefighter because he was a member of the fire department at Procter & Gamble in Ivorydale, where he worked as a machinist. He trained several classes of EMTs and used his machinist and mechanical skills to help build the Taylor Mill Department's first rescue truck. "They made it out of a bread truck," said his other daughter, Kimberly Jo Stapperfenne, of Sulphur. Mr. Murray loved to fish, and for many years went on annual excursions to Lake Erie, where he caught salmon, walleye and perch. One fish he and his friends had stuffed and for many years, it showed up, wrapped, under the tree of various members of the group at Christmas. "He loved pranks," said Stapperfenne. He was an avid camper, and when his children were growing up he took his family regularly on vacations to Levi Jackson State Park in London. "We started in a tent, then graduated to a pop-up camper, then to a travel trailer," said Rengering. He was a 52-year member of Taylor Mill Pentecostal Church and a former deacon there, a Marine veteran of the Korean War - he won three Purple Hearts for that service - and a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 19. "He made the best out of everything," Rengering said. "He was optimistic, generous, loving, kind. He had a real zest for life." A son, Reginald James Murray, died in 1986. Surviving in addition to his daughters are his wife, Irene Murray; sisters, Donna Pepper of Altamonte Springs, Fla., Sigrid Chapman of Florence, Victoria Whitehead of Atlanta and Debbie Campbell of Phoenix; and three grandchildren. Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Taylor Mill Pentecostal Church. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Chambers and Grubbs Funeral Home, Florence. Burial will be in Floral Hills Cemetery, Taylor Mill. Memorials are suggested to Taylor Mill Pentecostal Church, 5336 Taylor Mill Road, Taylor Mill, Ky. 41015.