THREE RIVERS AREA — At Village Park of Conway lives a man who has lived and loved people for 103 years.
Murl Spruiell of El Paso came to live in the assisted-living facility in November, and he celebrated his 103rd birthday in June. While he cannot see or hear as well as he used to, he views his life with a positive attitude.
“I’ve had a very good life,” he said. “I have known a lot of people. I can truly say I do love everyone. That’s a very easy thing for me to do, to love people. I feel I have been blessed. I am being blessed - that people love me.”
“I’ve never seen the man get mad,” said Ray Spruiell, Murl’s nephew. “He always said he loved everybody; he just couldn’t be around some people to lovethem, though.
“He’s had a lot of friends over the years. Of course, a bunch of them, he’s outlived. I know there’s a lot of younger people that know him (and) have known him, and they really respect him. He’s always tried to treat everybody fair and do what he said he’d do.”
Murl admitted that after all his years of life, he does not remember many details about his childhood, but he remembers his parents.
“Mother and Father lived to a ripe old age,” Murl said. “They were the most wonderful people in the world. They were always mighty nice to we kids. I had a wonderful family at home to grow up in. My mother and my father - (there is) no question in my mind but what they loved one another.
“When Mother or Daddy, either one, said no, it meant no.But they were very broad-minded. They thought issues out before they declared themselves on them. If they said yes, you could depend on it. Somehow or another, they had a way of finding out every dern thing we did that they forbade us to do.”
“His mama lived to be 101,” Ray said of Murl’s mother, “nearly 102 when she passed on. His daddy passed on quite a few years before that. He’s got one brother left living. Uncle Barney is the youngest, and Uncle Murl is the oldest. He’s outlived all his sons, his wife, allhis daughters-in-law. He’s just outlived his whole family. That’s basically it.”
Murl said he was a millwright by occupation. He contemplated a motto from his day that declared a millwright can do any job and do it better than anyone has ever done.
“We were dumb enough that we got the idea that there’s nothing in the world that a millwright cannot do or hasn’t done,” Murl said. “There’s some of that that’s foolish. Millwrights make mistakes like everyone else.”
Murl did not end his musings on foolishness there. Regarding his thoughts on age and wisdom, he said, “Just because you add years to your life doesn’t mean that you get to be any smarter or any dumber.There’s a lot of us that’s pretty bad dumb. There’s a whole lot of us that feel like we’re pretty dadburn smart, when in reality, we’re just being ignorant. There’s far too many of us who don’t realize just how dumb we are. I’ve lived long enough and I’ve been exposed to enoughpeople that I know how people are. If I actually knew what I think I know, I’d be a heck of a lot smarter than I am.”
Murl said he never fought in a war, as he was always the wrong age to enlist. He and his wife raised four sons, however, and all four of them served in the military during wartime simultaneously, he said.
“In reality, my wife and I were both in the war. Our oldest was drafted. The next three, as soon as they were old enough, they enlisted - two in the Army and two in the Navy. We lost one in the Navy,” he said.
Ray remembers his uncle’s wife very well.
“He’s always called his wife Miss Daisy. That’s all he ever called her. He really loved the woman. He just worshipped her, really. She was a wonderful person. Us boys spent a lot of time over at his house when we could. They had an excellent marriage as far as any of us could tell.”
“I haven’t always treated my fellow man as I would like to be treated,” Murl said. “In my estimation, that’s one of the best things we can do. If we could just manage to love our fellow man and treat other people like we’d appreciate being treated, we’d be a helluva lot better people than we are.”
Tammie Lewellen, administrator at Village Park, said of the 103-year-old gentleman, “He’s a lover of life. He loves everyone. He’s a joy. He’s got a lot of life experience. He loves to tell a short story. He has a humor about him.”
Lewellen said Murl Spruiell is the eldest resident at the assisted living facility, with the next eldest being 96. She said Murl lived independently until about a year and a half ago.
Ray said he visits his uncle at least once a week and helps him as much as he can.
“Uncle Murl’s done a whole lot for me in my life. He’s just a good uncle. He’s lived his whole life working hard and trying to treat other people like they ought to be treated, and he’s been well thought of on that account.”
Three Rivers, Pages 136 on 07/25/2010