Willie Vern Purdy

Bill Purdy, 92, passed away very peacefully surrounded by most of his family on June 24, 2014 in Newburg, MD. Bill was born in Lentner, MO to Eva Pearl Butner-Purdy and Thomas Melvin Purdy. He was a World War II veteran. Bill grew up on a farm and then moved to Shelbina when he was 12 years old. In 1942, Bill joined the U.S. Navy in Moberly, MO. He married Mary E. Lamb in 1943. Bill was commissioned on the USS Shields DD596. He went to Pearl Harbor in 1944 on the USS Shields to the Solomon Island, South Pacific and then to the Philippine Islands. From 1950 to 1954, Bill was on the USS Philippine Sea in Korea most of the time. In 1955-1956, Bill was on the USS Princeton in China. In 1956 he was transferred to Patuxent River Naval Air Station as an Electronics Technician until 1959. On September 27, 1961, Bill was Honorably Discharged from the U.S. Navy after 21 years of service. He was hired as a Civil Service employee in Satellite Communications at Webster Field, St. Inigoes, MD. He was a member of a team that sent the first satellite communication to a military vessel. He spent 18 years in the Civil Service at Webster Field and retired in 1977. He married his second wife, Helen Smith, in 1971 and moved to Valdosta, GA after retirement. He started his own clock repair, sales and service on Patterson Street in 1981. It was called Bill Purdy’s Lathem Time Recorders. He retired from the time clock repair business in 1998. Bill learned to play golf in 1973 at Patuxent River NAS. He enjoyed the game until he was 85 years old. Some other hobbies included gardening, playing cards, fishing, camping, baseball, eating oysters, and crabbing. Bill was preceded in death by his parents, wife, and his younger brother Thomas E. Purdy. He is survived by his younger sister Peggy Browne and her husband John; his six childen, Sandra Molko and her husband John of Avon Park, FL, Donald Purdy and his wife Joyce of Newburg, MD, Donna Cyrus of Great Mills, MD, Kim Kreider and her husband John of Mt. Joy, PA, Steve Purdy and his wife Wanda of Lawrenceville, GA, and Jim Purdy of Clements, MD; and his five grandchildren, Tracy and Jeffrey Keiser, Brian Klemz, and Dawn and Amber Cyrus. He is also survived by 11 great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Funeral services and Interment will be held at the Carson-McLane Funeral Home, 2215 N. Patterson Street, Valdosta, GA (229-242-5544) on Sunday, June 29, 2014. Local funeral arrangements by Raymond Funeral Service in La Plata, MD. Memorials to the Hospice of Charles County, 2505 Davis Road, Waldorf, MD 20603.

Willie Vern Purdy

November 27, 1921 - June 24, 2014