Very Rev. Basil Mcmurry, Archpriest

The V. Rev. BASIL McMurry, Archpriest (William Louis McMurry) departed this life on September 20, 2019, exchanging his 85 years and long struggle with cancer for a joyous reunion and eternal reward.He is preceded in death by his father James Isaac McMurry and mother Edna Oleva Carter, and survived by sons William Scott and Roger Louis, daughter-in-law Robin Archer McMurry, granddaughter Erin Elizabeth McMurry Smith and husband Jarred, grandson William Patrick Ryan, and great-grandchildren Elizabeth Katherine and Archer Miles Smith.Fr. BASIL was born in Jay, OK on February 8th, 1934, where his family lived until moving to Sand Springs, OK near the beginning of WWII. After graduating from Central High School in Tulsa, he joined the military and served as a First Sargent at Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas from 1957-59. Though not raised in a religious home, the young Fr. BASIL felt the call of God on his life, a prompting fed by a young woman he met in church – Bertha Helen Wing – who would become his bride and companion in ministry in 1959. Together, they provided a loving example of godly marriage to congregations in Turley, OK, Weiner, AR, and Atoka, OK before settling in Oklahoma City.Led by a relentless search for truth and authenticity, Fr. BASIL came to Orthodoxy and converted in 1987, devoting his entire passion and learning to the faith, and becoming ordained in 1992. In his various roles in the clergy of St. Elijah and St. James, he and Khouriya Bertha found no greater pleasure or accomplishment than in sharing their faith, time, and such gifts as they had with those who had so gladly welcomed and sustained them. We knew Fr. BASIL throughout his life as a kindly and wise man, a man of great humility and patience.