G. Jay Hurley

On Nov. 25, 2023, G. Jay Hurley died in the bedroom where he was born, 82 years ago, on April 15, 1941. This might lead one to conclude that he never left Shepherdstown – the small West Virginia town where he grew up- but this would be untrue. Rather, after a difficult childhood, Jay ventured out into the wide world.

Still in his teens, Jay studied electronics in Charleston, WV, where he rapidly made new friends and acquired new ideas that nurtured his true character. His first career was as a disc jockey, starting as a weekend announcer at WARK radio in Hagerstown, MD. He then became a board engineer at WOL Radio in Washington, DC. By this time, Jay was attending Grantham School of Electronics, where he earned a first-class Radio Telephone License. This FCC certification qualified him to be an announcer/engineer and to solo operate a commercial AM/FM station. He landed a job at WNAV Radio in Annapolis, MD, where more of life’s adventures waited.

Next, Jay set his sights on more training and better pay. He enrolled at DeVry Institution of Technology in Chicago, IL for a two-year work-study course in advanced electronics. While attending classes, Jay also worked in the electronics industry to pay his way through school. With this degree under his belt, he sought an even grander adventure and found a job overseas.

Jay signed on with G.E. Heavy Military Electronics and managed Remote Space Track Radar on a contract basis. His duty was on-site at Shemya Island in the Alaskan Aleutian Chain, 1400 miles west of Anchorage and 400 miles east of Russia. A year and a half on the windswept rock was enough for Jay, and he bid for a similar position in remote southeast Turkey. Thus, he traded the wind and freezing rain for a baking sun.

In Turkey, Jay worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week, but this challenging job afforded four weeks off every six months. This permitted him to visit European and North African countries, and during one of his jaunts, he maneuvered a goat-skin raft down the Tigris River. After two years in Turkey, Jay decided it was time to come back to America and continue college. Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo was his next port of call.

Many of Jay’s other projects are notable and deserve mention. When he lived in Michigan in the 1970s, Jay trained a team of oxen and drove them in numerous parades. He also took the oxen to Washington, DC in 1976 for the 4th of July Bicentennial Parade. There, he masterfully moved his pilgrim’s cart along Constitution Avenue, from the U.S. Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.

With a broadened view of life and the world, Jay eventually returned home to Shepherdstown. His interest in yester-year living and memorabilia had grown over the years, and he percolated the idea of recreating a turn-of-the-century General Store. When Jay’s father became terminally ill, the family’s old store became available. After 10 months of renovation and investing all his money, including sweat equity, O’Hurley’s General Store opened in Nov. 1979.

Jay also celebrated the bicentennial of the James Rumsey Steamboat, which was demonstrated in the Potomac River in 1787. Jay built a half-scale replica of the steamboat and successfully launched it in 1987, thereafter chugging the boat along the East Coast, from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia to Mount Vernon. Today, a large wood carving depicting the original steamboat launch hangs in the Rumsey Tavern at the Clarion Hotel. Jay harvested a Basswood tree and laminated the timbers for this piece of art designed by Tom Glennon and carved by both men.

When Shepherdstown celebrated its 250th Anniversary in 2012, Jay made a poster and jigsaw puzzle composed of images of the many motifs and ornamentations found in local architecture. He then created a scavenger hunt contest to find the architectural appointments throughout the town. Proceeds from the poster and puzzle are contributed to the Shepherdstown Visitor Center.

At age 73, Jay became an interfaith minister and was ordained Tzadik (“Teacher”) in the Order of Melchizedek. He also was a Wayshower, a title bestowed on graduates of the Association of Research and Enlightenment. He was a council member of Oracle Temple in Independence, VA, and gifted stain-glassed windows to the Peace Pentagon at Oracle Campus, where he often visited.

Jay’s love of construction started during childhood, when he would build various tree houses and forts with his brothers and neighborhood kids. From blacksmithing, to woodworking, to electrical engineering, to machinery, to music, Jay could do it all. He also was a pilot and was preparing two planes for take-off – one a biplane he constructed from scratch. Now, Jay is flying with the angels.

Jay’s love of nature called him camping and canoeing in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota and Canada – a remote, pristine wilderness where just canoes are allowed. With a different campsite each night and breathtaking scenery each day, Jay abided with moose, bear, and Bald Eagles. He also paddled 150-miles down the Missouri River in Montana – a stretch of river unchanged since navigated by Lewis and Clark in 1804.

Jay’s life was one big adventure and project after another, but his most beloved was O’Hurley’s General Store, which he left to his co-workers in legacy. For the past 44 years, Jay and friends have operated the store, all the while enjoying each other, their customers, and the many musicians who have played in the annex known as the “Great Hall.” When the store opened, Thursday night was chosen as “Jam Night.” Since then, local musicians have never missed this weekly collaboration in the Great Hall – a record not to be broken! Indeed, Jay’s final wish was that the store, its music, and his generosity be shared for 100 years or more . . . and so it shall be.

Jay transitioned with his closest friends in attendance and at his bedside. Per his instructions, his body was cremated and his ashes will be spread via airplane over the Blue Ridge Mountains.

In the spring, a Celebration of Life Gathering will be held on April 6 at 12 p.m. in O’Hurley’s Great Hall, where all will be invited to share their precious memories of this great soul.