KERSEY, Hugh Wright - Putnam

Hugh Wright Kersey, 84, Martinsville, died at 7:30 a.m. on May 5, 2003 in Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. The son of the late Ezra Newton and Ruby Eugenia (Evans) Kersey, he was born Nov 9, 1918 in Fillmore, Ind. He was the widower of Mary Katherine (Avery) Kersey whom he married on June 15, 1944 in Brooklyn, NY. He died Jan 27, 2002.  Kersey attended elementary school in Danville and Fillmore and graduated from Fillmore HS in 1936. In 1936 he began working for A&P Grocery and worked as manager in Greencastle, Brazil, Terre Haute and Vincennes. In 1940 he entered Evanston Collegiate Institute, a Methodist College in preparation for the ministry. He became assistant pastor in a Methodist Church in North Chicago. In 1941, he entered the US Army and attended Medical Technician School at Fitzsimmon General Hospital in Denver, Colo and then to Camp Atterbury for training at Billings General Hospital. Receiving the rank of Staff Sgt he would later be assigned to the US Army Transport, George Washington and made the first of 38 Atlantic Ocean crossings during WWII.  Following his discharge from the Army in 1945, Kersey joined his father-in-law, Charles A. Avery in the Avery Insurance Agency. In 1970, he became owner of the agency retiring in 1980. During his lifetime he was a leader in the business, church, educational, civic and cultural activities of Martinsville.  He was a life member of the American Legion Post 230 past pres of Lions Club, charter member of the Jr. Chamber of Commerce. While a member of the Jaycees, he and other members raised the funds to help purchase the land for the Jimmy Nash City Park and helped organize the first Fall Foliage Festival. He served as pres of the Morgan Co Library Board and was instrumental in the purchase of the first Book Mobile. A devout Methodist he was an active member of the First United Methodist Church in Martinsville.  He served on many committees and boards was lay leader, lay delegate to the annual conference, taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, worked with the church Boy Scout program and was the church historian. While serving as the historian he wrote a history of the church which has been printed into a booklet, completed a pictorial and scrapbook used in the stewardship program and created a historical hallway full of past and present church memories. Survivors include a son, Charles Frederic “Eric” Kersey and his wife Sharyn of Martinsville; a daughter, Carol Lynn Pampalone, Cron Point; four sisters, Mary Icelone Koch, Somerset, Ky; Helen Beaman and Virginia Hardwick both of Greencastle and Betty Jackson, Paoli; three grandchildren, Nina Lynn Pampalone, First Lt Adam Wesley Kersey and Matthew Eric Pampalone and one great granddaughter.  A brother, Basil Kersey, three sisters, Vera Rossok; Doris Richey and Patricia Kersey and one grandchild, Michael Charles Pampalone, preceded him in death. The service will be 2 p.m. Thursday at First United Methodist Church, 190 North Sycamore St in Martinsville. The Revs Mark Suter and Eric Kersey will officiate. Friends may call from noon until time of the service Thursday at the church.  Costin Funeral Chapel in Martinsville is in charge of the arrangements. - kbz