J.V. McCrory of Hattiesburg, 89, a longtime professor at William Carey University, died on June 14.
He was born near Goodman on Jan. 19, 1931, to Luther and Eva McCrory. He described his parents as “very kind and gentle” in his autobiography.
His parents were farm workers and sharecroppers who survived the best way they could through the Depression years: raising cotton and corn, making whiskey, and fishing and hunting game “like the hill folk of that era.”
McCrory may have obtained his appreciation for literature from his father, who was a country musician, a guitar player and good enough to play for country dances.
Luther and Eva bought land near Canton during World War II, where they became prosperous and raised their two sons, sacrificing some to send them to fine schools.
Professionally, McCrory was many things, including a farmer, a truck driver, a soldier during the Korean War, a factory worker, an entrepreneur, a writer and a professor at William Carey College, later a university, for 33 years.
Although his resume shows a long list of activities, he liked teaching the best.
It was most compatible with writing and offered the psychic reward of helping others think better, write better, speak better and better understand the world around them.
He was a learned man, and he used to say, “More and more, I relate to Chaucer’s complaint ... that life is so short, and the art is so long.”
Memorial services will be held at a later date.
McCrory is survived by sons Brian Ray McCrory and Charles Barry McCrory.
He is also survived by six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and his brother, Quitman McCrory.
