William Vance Murphy

Vance was born May 15, 1953, to Travis and Nona Williams Murphy.  He is the oldest of four children:  Vance, Debra (Debbie), Toby, and Cindy. Growing up, their family lived in the Cypress-Fairbanks area near Houston.  Vance graduated from Cy-Fair High School in 1971.  While in high school, he went to work at Target Stores decorating Christmas trees.  As his career continued with Target Stores, Inc., he transferred from retail to the distribution side of the business.  In 1976, Vance married Margie Smith of Katy, TX and they had four children:  Michael, Vanessa, Travis, and Lance.  Vance’s job and promotions resulted in their family living in Washington state, Colorado, Indiana, Arkansas, and Georgia with Target Distribution.  Vance was the General Manager of several distribution facilities.  In 1997, Vance changed companies and joined Walmart Distribution in Douglas, GA.  His knowledge of the business resulted in more job transfers to open new facilities in Michigan and Louisiana.  In 2003, Walmart announced it would build a new distribution center in Sealy, Texas and Vance asked them to manage that facility and go home to Texas.

In September 2004, Vance married Kay Dasher and together they both transferred from Louisiana with Walmart distribution centers to Sealy and made their home in Bellville. Vance served as General Manager of the Sealy facility from 2004 until his retirement in 2016.

Vance was a successful general manager who was good at business and the predictability of numbers.  However, his highest accolade was his love for people and people in return who felt love for him.  In May 2023, he received over 100 birthday cards on his 70th birthday, from family, friends, and many from people in other states who have known him for 20-30 years.

Vance retired in 2016 after 40 years in retail and distribution.  His favorite place was spending time outside on his farm in the country where time passes more slowly, enjoying his family, horses, donkeys, natural life, and the colors of sunrise and sunset.  After receiving so many birthday cards, he would rise early, drink coffee in the still of the morning, and open 4-5 cards each day until he had savored all of them.  Vance loved his tractor and the satisfaction of driving it and planting something.  His cat Doc loved to ride the tractor and John Deere Gator with him.  He and his wife Kay celebrated 19 years of marriage on September 18, 2023.  He had prayed to God to let him live long enough to share that special event with “Miss Kay. “

Vance was preceded in death by his mother Nona in 1989 and his father Travis in 2019.

He is survived by his loving wife: Kay Dasher Murphy; children: Jennifer (Terra) Dasher, Cal Dasher,  Michael (Kim) Murphy, Vanessa (Justin) Kinney, Travis Murphy, Lance (Jessica) Murphy; siblings: Debbie Murphy (late husband, Buck) Burch, Toby (Katrina) Murphy, and Cindy (Kevin) Mills; grandchildren: Althea Murphy, Grace Murphy, Renee Murphy, Wellisandra Kinney, Stella Kinney; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins, aunts, uncle, other family, and dear friends.

A special thank you to the staff of Texas Oncology in Dallas and Katy, Dr. Mark Wahlberg, Dr. Robert Goldstein, Dr. Sri, Methodist Hospital Interventional Radiology, Methodist nursing staff, and Amedisys Hospice.

Pallbearers are Toby Murphy, Michael Murphy, Lance Murphy, Justin Kinney, Calvin Dasher, Ryan Gibson, John Rhames, and Chad Hollis. Honorary Pallbearers are Larry Teafatiller, Charles Eddings, Elton Wright, Steven Walker, Wayne Casey, Jeremy Jett, and Scott Gossett