January 29, 2018 - Soon after I became pastor of The First Baptist Church of Mauriceville, Texas in 1963, Deacon Thamar Dickerson asked me if I knew J.D. Murphree. “I sure do,” I said. “We both graduated from high school Center, Texas in 1950. I haven’t seen him since then”.. “Well, he’s our Game Warden…everyone likes him and we would like to get him in our church.” J.D.’s family lived a short distance from our church and I drove out the next day to visit him.
He had just gotten home from work that day and introduced me to his wife Elora (“Loe”) and their three young children. J.D. said that he had graduated from The Game Warden Academy in 1958, the same year that I got my B.A. Degree from ETBU in Marshall. “Henry, I don’t own a suit but if I can wear my uniform, I’ll be in church Sunday night,” he said. I assured him that most of our members didn’t wear suits and that his uniform looked great.
When we got to church Sunday night, I asked Delbert McWhirter to stand outside and watch for him. “We want to make him feel welcome”, I said. But 7:00 came and there was no sign of J.D. As I was making the announcements to the church, the telephone rang in my study. Joe Pineda answered it, approached the pulpit and whispered, “J.D has been killed”. He had received a tip that hunters were poaching ducks in a marsh just north of Mauriceville and as he pursued them, a youth hunter shot and killed him.
The next week we met at Mangum Funeral Home in Center, Texas for the service. The funeral home was packed and the walls were lined with Law Enforcement officers. It was the largest gathering of State Law Enforcement officers at any funeral I have conducted in my 60 years ministry.
A trial followed in Newton, Texas and the young man was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a prison term. After being released from prison he appeared at the church parsonage one day. When I opened the door, he asked if I knew who he was. His exact words were: “I shot your friend, J. D. Murphree.” Then he began to cry. “I became a Christian in prison and am living for the Lord”, he sobbed. “I hate to ask…but will you perform my wedding ceremony?” I said I would and performed it the next week. That was around 50 years ago…and I never saw him …or heard anything about him… since then.
I’ve thought these many years about Loe and her children…what they suffered…and what suffering they have had to live through. I have also thought often about the limitless mercy of God. ”I will forgive your sins”…. “I will bury them in the depths of the sea…and remember them against thee no more….forever.”
J.D. married Elora Mae Oswalt, daughter of Wesley Oswalt and Rena Fleming Oswalt, July 1, 1950. He worked for the City of Center and the Center Police Department. A good friend W. D. Lawler encouraged J.D. to become a Texas Game Warden. He graduated from the 11th Texas Game Warden Academy in 1958. He was stationed in Orange County. About 1961 he returned to Center and worked Shelby County for two years, then moved back to Orange County. Not long after returning, J.D. was killed by a Vidor youth near Mauriceville, Texas on December 8, 1963.
J.D Murphree’s name has been enshrined in the National Police Hall of Fame. There is 8,400 acre wildlife management area near Port Arthur, Texas that was named The J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area.
P.S. Since I wrote this article, a man wrote me saying that he worked for years with the man that shot J.D. ”He called me to the side one night and sobbed out the whole story,” he said. “He tearfully said that he was so sorry for what happened that day.” “He passed away at the age of 62.”
