Willard Howard Murray of Marblehead, known to nearly everyone as Willy, and to some as Willy Boy, died Tuesday, November 3, 2026, with his wife and children beside him. He was 81 and had lived with Alzheimer’s disease.
He was born November 20, 1944, to Raymond and Pauline Murray and grew up in Winthrop with his sister, Eleanor LeLievre, and his brother, Roger Murray, both of whom died before him.
He made his home in Marblehead, where he and his wife, Lynda, spent 46 years together. He founded and owned U.S. Roofing and took pride in what he built. His family remembers him driving his truck around the company’s shop in Peabody, a cigar in hand. After he sold the business he settled into a retirement that suited him, with winters in Delray Beach, Florida, where he had a favorite cigar bar and a circle of friends.
In his younger years he rode a Harley and took road trips with good friends. Later the travel went farther, around the world with Lynda and their friends, with a trip to Asia a particular favorite. The trips his family remembers most, though, were closer to home: summers at Myrtle Beach, often with a caravan of neighbors and friends making the drive together, and holidays, especially Thanksgiving, at the family’s house in North Conway, New Hampshire.
He had a sweet tooth and an unpredictable streak. His family says he regularly did the unexpected, sometimes the downright silly, leaving them shaking their heads and laughing, and that those are now the stories they are most grateful to have.
Above all, they say, he put his family first. He did not treat success as something to enjoy alone, and he used what he had worked for to give his family chances to travel and make memories together.
He leaves his wife, Lynda Murray; his children, Kelley Delia of Bedford, Craig Murray and Niki Murray of Marblehead, and Michael Murray of North Reading; and eight grandchildren, Anthony, Joelle, Mikey, Jason, Shawn, Max, Mason and Marshall, to whom he was Papa.
Memorial visiting hours are Thursday, November 12, from 3 to 7 p.m. at Eustis and Cornell of Marblehead, 142 Elm Street. A celebration of his life follows Friday, November 13, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Boston Yacht Club, 1 Front Street, Marblehead. Burial will be private. In place of flowers the family suggests donations in his memory to the Alzheimer’s Association at alz.org.
Compiled from information published by Eustis and Cornell of Marblehead142 Elm Street, Marblehead. Photograph courtesy of the family via Eustis and Cornell. This is our own summary, not the family’s obituary; read the full obituary and leave a condolence at the funeral home’s page on Legacy.com. Corrections: we will fix any error promptly.
