Dorothy Elizabeth Gore McMurray, 94, died Sunday, February 14, 2016, in Shelby, NC after a

brief illness.

Physician, civic leader, avid birder, amateur musician, and mother of 4, she had lived in Shelby

since 1953. She was a physician for many years in the Shelby Schools, and for 18 years

coordinated the Continuing Medical Education Program and the Cancer Program for physicians

at Cleveland County Memorial Hospital. She served on the Board of Directors of The Salvation

Army, The United Way, The Piedmont Girl Scout Council, The Shelter Home, Gardner-Webb

Board of Advisors, the North Carolina Mental Health Association, and the Cleveland County

Mental Health Association. She was a member of the Dover Foundation Scholarship Committee

for 20 years. As a co-leader of Girl Scout Troop 24 with Virginia Jones at Central Methodist

Church In Shelby NC, all 18 of the troop members received the highest rank in girl scouting.

She was a member of the Shelby Presbyterian Church, the Literario Club and the Garden Club

in Shelby, NC.

Dorothy Elizabeth Gore was born on October 8, 1921 in Blanchard, Oklahoma and grew up in

Blanchard and Chickasha, Oklahoma. As a child she helped on her grandmother's farm,

developing a naturalist's eye as well as her pragmatic philosophy of life from her observations.

She attended Chickasha High school, where she was a star basketball player. She

subsequently attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, where she majored in

Chemistry and was inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta honor society.

Dr McMurray received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Oklahoma in

Chickasha, one of two women in a class of 72 in her medical school. She was the sole woman

intern during her internship in Pediatrics at the University of Iowa, but transferred after 6

months to work in the Tuberculosis/Venereal Disease clinic in Oklahoma City. Her sister Ursula,

then a first Lieutenant in the WAA found her a job as an intern In Columbia SC at Columbia

Hospital. It was there she met her husband, Clarence McCain McMurray, an intern in medicine,

at a New Year's Eve party before her midnight shift. After a courtship that began over night

snacks in late summer at the hospital, they were married in Columbia, SC. While her husband

completed his internship at Barnes Hospital in St Louis, Missouri, she was a member of the

medical staff at St. Louis County Health Department. While working there she was a frequent

visitor at the St Louis public library, bringing home fiction for her husband, and non fiction for

herself.

Dorothy spent 6 years reading the Great Books, was an excellent bridge player, and thrilled her

children with her one-time hole in one on the local golf course. After retirement, Dorothy

became an avid birder, with a special interest in the birds birds of North Carolina, Brownsville

Texas, and Stinson Beach, California.

She lived in Shelby for 63 years and was preceded in death by her husband, Clarence McCain

McMurray, a physician in Internal Medicine. She is survived by her four children and their

spouses: Clarence McCain McMurray, Jr, and Cameron Griffith of Washington, DC; Julia

Elizabeth McMurray MD and Mark Trewartha MD of Madison, Wisconsin; John Thomas

McMurray PhD of Jackson, Wyoming; Joseph William McMurray and Beth Scheer McMurray of

Shelby, NC . She is survived by six grandchildren: Benjamin McCain McMurray, Elizabeth

McMurray Linzer, McCain Jay McMurray and Carson Reid McMurray, Joseph William McMurray,

Jr and Benjamin Scheer McMurray. Her last words were about what sustained her throughout

her life-the love of her husband and her children and the importance of family.

The family will receive friends at the Fellowship Hall of the Shelby Presbyterian Church from 2-3

pm on Saturday, February, 20, 2016.

Cecil M Burton Funeral Home and Crematory is serving the family of Mrs. McMurray

Guest Registry is available at www.cecilmburtonfuneralhome.com