James Murray was the first child of John Murray and Mary Reynolds.  He was born in the family home in Derrykenny, County Fermanagh on February 8, 1942.  James was baptized at Saint Mary's Catholic Church in Newtownbutler.  He went to school to learn to be a chef in Banville, County Down.  James worked at the Stortmont Hotel in Belfast as a chef. 

Photo: James working courtesy of Mary Reynolds Murray.

James was coming home from Colraine for his mother's birthday April 16, 1990.  He had taken the bus from Colraine to Maguiresbridge.  He missed the next bus connection, from Maguiresbridge to Derrykenny, so he decided to walk the nine miles from Maguiresbridge to his mothers house in Derrykenny.  While walking beside the road, carrying his mother's birthday gift, Jim who was her eldest son was struck by a car and killed.  He was buried in the Murray family plot in the yard of Saint Mary's in Newtownbutler alongside his grandparents his father and his brother Andrew.