Obituaries for Saturday, July 24, 2004

By Staff
YORK, Ala. Services for Billye Smith Ballow McElory will be held today at 11 a.m. at Livingston United Methodist Church with the Rev. Tim Meadows officiating. Burial will be in the Ebenezer Baptist Church Cemetery in Pennington at 3 p.m. A memorial service will be held at Highlands United Methodist Church in Huntsville on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2004 at 10 a.m.
Mrs. McElroy, 95, of Huntsville, died Tuesday, July 20, 2004, in her home. She was born "Will Frank Smith" to Joshua and Callie Woolf Smith in Naheola, on Nov. 10, 1908. She was the fifth of 12 children and spent her early years in Choctaw County. She moved to Livingston with her family in 1928 and attended Livingston Normal School (later Livingston State Teachers College, Livingston University and now University of West Alabama.) After a brief teaching career she began working in the Probate Judges' office and in 1937, began a long career in the U.S. Postal Service. She worked first as a clerk and later as a Postmaster, a position that she held until her retirement in 1973. She married John Thomas Ballow in 1934 and had two daughters, and raised them with the help of her mother after her husband's death. In 1946 she married Harold LaFayett "Skinny" McElroy. In 2000, she moved from Livingston to Huntsville, to live with her daughter, Sylvia Gullatt and her husband, Ed. She lived a long, healthy, active life until her last few years. She enjoyed her family, friends, church, fellow postal employees, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and friends.
Survivors include her sister, Carolyn Smith Menefee; her daughter, Sylvia Ballow Gullatt and her husband, Ed; grandchildren, Cynthia Lynn Briney Knaus and her husband, Bill, Jeffrey Briney and his wife, Julie, Marilou Briney Baker and her husband, Chum, John Paul Briney and his wife, Meyvi, Greg Gullatt, Ken Gullatt, Bill Gullatt and his wife, Dorene, and Carol Gullatt; great-grandchildren, Benjamin Briney, Brighid Briney, Betsie Briney, Rolfe Briney, Bethany Gullatt, Sarah Gullatt, Rachel Gullatt and Charlie Baker and several friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Joshua and Callie Smith; her first husband, John T. Ballow; her second husband, Harold L. McElroy; siblings, Lena Lee Smith Edwards, Annie Ruth Smith Edwards, John M. Smith, Fannie Maude Smith Frazier, Jimmy Smith, Massey W. Smith, Henry W. Smith, Mary Smith Parnell, Mildred Smith and Paul Smith and a daughter, Marilyn Cooper Ballow Briney.
Memorials may be made to Livingston United Methodist Church, or Highlands United Methodist Church in Huntsville.
Visitation will be today one hour prior to the service at the church.
Services for Anita "Nita" W. Ivy will be held today at 1:30 p.m. at James F. Webb Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Nick Holden officiating. Burial will be in Oak Grove Cemetery in Bonita.
Ms. Ivy, 77, of Meridian, died Wednesday, July 21, 2004, at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center.
Survivors include her daughters, Jean Alawine of Meridian and Carroll Crider and her husband, Ryland, of Jacksonville, Fla.; sisters, Eloise Whitehead, Frances Thomley and Ernestine Milstead and her husband, Tommy; a brother, Edward White and his wife, Ruth; six grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her brothers, Harold C. White, Alton O. White and Jasper R. White; sisters, Lois Molpus and Christine White and her parents, George and Bertha White and a granddaughter, Jeannie Alawine.
Pallbearers will be her grandsons and great-grandsons.
WAYNESBORO Services for Dr. L.O. Murphy Jr. will be held today at 2 p.m. at the Freeman Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will be in Waynesboro Cemetery.
Dr. Murphy, 79, of Waynesboro, died Thursday, July 22, 2004, in Meridian. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy, having enlisted on February 22, 1943, and was ordered to the USN V 12 Unit at Emory University on July 1, 1943. He was discharged on Dec. 11, 1945. Dr. Murphy also served during the Korean War from April 1, 1951, to April 1, 1953. He was attached to the First Marine Airwing at Quantico, Va., as a Medical Officer. He served as a Medical Officer USN Ready Reserve thereafter for six years.
Dr. Murphy alternated his military career with his college education. He attended Mississippi Southern College (now the University of Southern Mississippi) from 1942 until 1943 and Emory University from 1943 until 1944. He attended the University of North Carolina Medical School from 1944 until 1946 before receiving his medical degree in 1947 from the University of Tennessee in Memphis. He served his internship from 1947 until February 1949 at the University of Tennessee Teaching Hospital.
At age 24, he began his practice in Waynesboro, joining four other doctors Drs. Merriam, McIlwain, Gray and Davis. There were no hospitals in town for the first two years of his practice. All work, including deliveries, were done at his office. Dr. Murphy practiced medicine for 50 years in Waynesboro from April 1, 1949, until April 1, 1999.
Survivors include his wife, Janie Murphy of Waynesboro; sons, Michael Murphy and his wife Leslie of Memphis, Tenn., and Neil Murphy of Mobile, Ala.; a daughter, Cathy Leslie and her husband Tim of Greenville, S.C.; and eight grandchildren, Loren Murphy of Memphis, Kate Williams and her husband Matt of Columbia, S.C., Sam Leslie and his wife Bridget of Greenville, Meghan Leslie of Greenville, Erin Murphy of Mobile, Colene Murphy of Foley, Ala., and Zachery and Matthew Sheppard of Florence.
Memorials may be made to Waynesboro Presbyterian Church.