Mary Ruth Murty

Mary Ruth Murty died Dec. 5, 2009 at Martha and Mary Nursing Home in Poulsbo with family by her side.

She was born August 1, 1927, in Tahlequah, Okla.

Mary was an adventurous and free spirit who moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma following her graduation from Tahlequah High School in 1944. She decided to pursue her dream of flying and took flying lessons and got her private pilot’s license. She met and fell in love with Kenneth Murty, a University of Tulsa engineering student and pilot working his way through school as a part-time mechanic at the Tulsa airport. They married in May 1949.

The family moved to Texas following Kenneth’s graduation as an aeronautical engineer from the University of Tulsa and then to Detroit.

After her children left home for college, Mary helped her husband in his private engineering company until his accidental death in 1982. Mary moved to Bainbridge Island in 1996 to be close to her daughter and youngest grandchildren.

Mary is survived by her son, Kenneth Murty, Jr. (Redding Calif.), her daughter, Judy Peters (Bainbridge Island) three granddaughters and two grandsons.

She is also survived by her sister, Jeane Hathcoat (Arlington, Texas), and brother, Lewis Justus (Tahlequah, Oklahoma).

A memorial service was held Dec. 16. Rather than flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Martha & Mary Chapel Restoration Fund, P.O. Box 127, Poulsbo, Washington 98370-0127, in her memory.