Wm. Jerome Mowbray, Jr

William Jerome Mowbray, Jr. passed away at the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center in Easton, MD on June 22, 2014. He was 96.

Mr. Mowbray was the son of William J. Mowbray, Sr. and Eva Jane Henry Mowbray. He was married to Elizabeth LaRue Tubman Mowbray who passed away on July 1, 1996. He was preceded in death by two sisters Annabel Mowbray Parks and Martha Mowbray Pink and a brother Henry Mowbray. He graduated from Cambridge High School and was employed as a brick mason until he was drafted into the U.S. Navy in 1943.

Mr. Mowbray served his country honorably during WW II aboard the destroyer escort ship USS Gilmer in the South Pacific. He was severely wounded in action when a Japanese Kamikaze plane hit his ship off the coast of Okinawa. He received a Purple Heart for this action and later witnessed the raising of the American Flag on Iwo Jima as well as the aftermath of the atomic bomb destruction in Nagasaki, Japan. Upon his return home from the war, Mr. Mowbray started his own business as a home building and masonry contractor. He built many homes in Cambridge, MD and was largely responsible for the first housing development in Cambridge at Edlon Park. He later owned and operated a restaurant in Princess Anne, MD before his retirement to the Hudson Creek Neck District. Mr. Mowbray moved to St. Michaels, MD in 2003 and lived with his daughter and son-in law until his demise.

Mr. Mowbray was a member of Grace United Methodist Church in Cambridge, MD, a charter member of the Cambridge Yacht Club and a lifetime member of the VFW.

Mr. Mowbray was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed competitive sailing, fishing and hunting. In 1956 he won the Maryland State All-Gauge Skeet Championship competing against a field of All-American skeet shooters qualifying for the national Skeet Championship in Reno, NV.

Mr. Mowbray is survived by his two daughters, Kaye Mowbray Purnell and husband William Purnell of Ocean City, MD and Page Mowbray Medlock and husband Dennis O. Medlock, Sr. of St. Michaels, MD and two sons, William Jay Mowbray of Easton, MD and Michael J. Mowbray, Sr. of Cambridge, MD as well as seven grandchildren, Tara Purnell Bruning and husband Scott Bruning, William Purnell III and wife Jody Morris Purnell and Charlotte Purnell of Ocean City, MD, Leslie Medlock of Columbia, MD and Dennis Medlock, Jr. of Millville, DE and wife Tammy Clark Medlock, Jennifer Mowbray and husband Bernie Mowbray, Michael Mowbray, Jr. and wife Ashley Smith Mowbray and four great-grandchildren, Sarah Wassel and Sean Wassel of Columbia, MD and Eva and Mae Purnell of Ocean City, MD.

Family will receive friends on Friday June 27, 2014 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Thomas Funeral Home, P.A. in Cambridge followed by a graveside service at 1 p.m. at the Maryland Veterans Cemetery, Hurlock, MD. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 163, Salisbury, MD 21803 or to the Heart Fund, 4217 Park Place Court, Glen Allen, VA 23060.