Jerry McMurdy, 82, of Harrisville, died unexpectedly in a car accident the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.

Defined by hard work and guided by his belief in God, Jerry McMurdy, founder and owner of McMurdy Excavating in Harrisville, died Feb. 16 at the age of 82.

More than 200 people, many of whom where former employees and fellow contractors, came to McMurdy’s viewing Feb. 22 and 23 and his funeral last Friday to pay their respects, said his daughter, Jenifer Mostard.

“We were really overwhelmed by the response as a family,” she said.

Many people who knew McMurdy admired his hardworking attitude.

“He was a very hardworking person. He worked until he fell down almost every day,” Mostard said.

She said he worked driving trucks and operating heavy equipment until he died in a traffic accident involving his pickup truck and a tri-axle dump truck on Route 208 in Barkeyville in Venango County.

He helped design the sewage system in Harrisville, designed septic systems and moved and set up premanufactured homes, she said.

During the housing boom in the 1980s, McMurdy had 25 employees, but he had been working alone with subcontractors in recent years, she said.

“He survived having a house fall on top of him multiple times,” Mostard said, referring to premanufactured homes. He suffered several broken vertebrae in those mishaps, she said.

McMurdy had a strong work ethic and was a strong man, but he wasn’t a harsh disciplinarian with his employees, she said.

At 5 feet, 11 inches tall with a “wiry” build, McMurdy was stronger than he appeared, his daughter said.

“He could pick a 500-pound steel beam over his head when he was 70,” she said.

He gave jobs to people who needed them the most.

“He hired people with criminal records because they needed jobs and people without driver’s licenses so they had something to work toward,” said Mostard, who attributed that to his deep religious beliefs.

“His relationship with God was the most important thing in his life next to his wife and his children. It defined the way he ran his life. It guided his decision making,” she said.

He studied the Bible, taught Sunday school at Bell Memorial Wesleyan Methodist Church in Boyers and was the church music director, she said.

A self-taught singer, McMurdy, a tenor, sang at his high school prom, special services at the church, funerals and weddings, including his and Mostard’s, she said. He also played guitar and piano.

“He spurred me. I’m a semiprofessional, classically trained opera singer,” Mostard said. He also inspired her sister, Katie Phelps, who teaches piano at Grove City College, she said.

In addition to Mostard and Phelps, McMurdy is survived by Alice, his wife of 41 years; two other daughters, Rita Simon and Shelia Cichra; and several grandchildren.