Jane Ringo Murray

Jane Ringo Murray, 91, of Atlanta, died July 3, 2012, at her residence. The funeral service, followed by a reception, will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 10, 2012, at All Saints" Episcopal Church, 634 West Peachtree Street, N.W., Atlanta, Ga. (404-881-0835), the Right Rev. Frank K. Allan, retired Bishop of Atlanta, officiating. Burial will follow at 4 p.m. in the Alta Vista Cemetery, Gainesville, Ga. (770-535-6883).

Jane was born Nov. 22, 1920, in New York City, the only child of her late parents, Buckner Ringo, a civil engineer with the Long Island, N.Y., highway department, and Marquerite Ringo, a noted mezzo soprano soloist and long-time professor of voice at Brenau College, Gainesville, Ga.

She is survived by her husband of 52 years, the Rev. Milton Murray of Atlanta; three sons, Charles Rudolph and wife Sara Starbuck of Carterville, Ill., James Rudolph and wife Terry of Boise, Idaho, and Richard Rudolph and wife Cindy of Lawrenceville, Ga.; two daughters, Betty Barnett and husband Larry of Robbins, N.C., and Marguerite Murray and husband Paul Roberts of East Point, Ga.; five grandchildren; two step grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Jane attended elementary school in New York City and Milan, Italy, where her mother was studying and performing the lead role in Italian opera. She graduated from St. Margaret"s School, Waterbury, Conn., and was a 1941 honor graduate of Barnard College, New York City, a school to which she was devoted for the rest of her life. Twice widowed, Jane"s first husband, Philip Unhoch of New York City and the father of their daughter Betty, died in 1944 while serving as a World War II Navy pilot. Her second husband, Charles Rudolph of Gainesville, Ga., and the father of their sons Charles, James, and Richard, died in 1958 while working as a textile engineer for Lumite Textile in Cornelia, Ga. In 1960 Jane married Milton Murray, an Episcopal priest and vicar of Calvary Episcopal Church, Cornelia, where she and her children were members. After the birth of their daughter Marguerite, they lived in Milledgeville and Atlanta, Ga., and St. Augustine, Fla., where Milton served churches until his retirement and their move to Canterbury Court, Atlanta, in 2007.

A woman of many interests and talents and an accomplished soprano soloist, Jane taught voice and piano, led choirs and choruses, and won the love of audiences wherever she sang. For a number of years she taught high school French, Latin, and English, and later worked in the life insurance business. In addition to the responsibilities of a large family, she always found time to serve her church and community. Next to family and friends, however, what was closest to her heart was her role in organizing the volunteer county-wide adult literacy program in St. Augustine, which she directed for almost 15 years. An avid reader herself, helping adults, who had never learned to read or write, acquire those skills was one of Jane"s greatest joys. She was a long-time member of the American Association of University Women and the Mu Phi Epsilon music sorority. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Learn to Read of St. Johns County, 70 South Dixie Highway, P.O. Box 860355, St. Augustine, FL 32084.

H.M. Patterson & Son Funeral Home, Oglethorpe Hill Chapel, Atlanta, Ga., is in charge of arrangements.