Thomas Patrick Murtha (Tom)

Woonsocket, SD

1939-40, 793, Sheridan, F-24,

Thomas P. Murtha, 69, of Woonsocket, S.D., died Wednesday, December 2, 1987, at the Prairie View Care Center, Woonsocket.

The funeral was held at St. Wilfrid's Catholic Church, Woonsocket, with the Reverends Richard Schmidt and Thomas Taylor officiating, with Bishop Paul Dudley in attendance. Burial was in the Church cemetery.

Thomas P. Murtha was born March 16, 1918, at Pine City, Minn., to Edward and Josephine (Freidrich) Murtha. They moved to Parkston, S.D., where he was raised and attended school.

He entered the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1939, He was also in the 147th Field Artillery, trained at Fort Ord, California. He was in Darwin, Australia, from 1942 to 1943 when he returned to Bushnell General Hospital in Brigham, Utah. He was discharged in 1946.

He worked in a factory in Newark, N.J., for one year, before returning to South Dakota in 1947, where he helped his parents on the farm. In 1952, he bought a farm northwest of Woonsocket.

He married Doris Povolo, January 2, 1954. They lived on their farm until 1980 when he retired in Woonsocket.

He is survived by his wife, Doris, of Woonsocket; five sons, Frank of Galena, Alaska, Chester of Winona, Minn., Edward of Groton, Mike of Woonsocket, and Larry of Sioux Falls; two daughters, Gilda Heiser of Aberdeen, and Mary Jo Ellingson of Rapid City; 17 grand-children; four brothers, Joe of Artesian, Bill of Parkston, John of Dimock, Tim of Oklahoma; seven, sisters, Marianne Frazer of Louisiana, Joan Schoenfelder of Dimock, Noreen Cyr of Texas, Fran Murtha of Oklahoma, Ann Taylor of Illinois, Lois Panayi of Texas, and Carol Naatz of Connecticut and nieces and nephews.

The American Legion furnished the Honor Guard. Casket bearers were Jim Murtha, Lyle Murtha, Jeff Murtha, Lee Murtha, Louis Murtha, and Pat Schoenfelder.

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