Jean Murray

Jean Murray passed away on August 18, 2026, on the beach near her beloved home on Edisto Island, South Carolina, in the place that she loved best.

She was born in Newberry, South Carolina, on June 28, 1948, and for seventy-eight years she was the sunshine in any room that she entered. She loved to laugh — easily, often, and out loud — and she loved the people she laughed with. Friendship was not a casual thing to her. It was a practice. She welcomed people in, checked on them, fed them, remembered what they’d told her long ago and asked about it again. She had a genius for gifts, the kind that made you realize she had been paying closer attention to your life than you had. She bought gifts year-round for Christmas to insure that yours was the most personal to you.

She gave her working life to children who were not her own and loved them as if they were. She began as a teacher in Charleston County and never really stopped being one, even as she became a principal, then associate superintendent of North Charleston Schools, and founded Buist Academy, the county’s first magnet school. In 1990 she went north to Harvard University, earned her doctorate, and carried it back to work she believed in — Assistant Superintendent in Charlottesville, Superintendent in Stafford and Henrico counties, and later part of a team that walked into failing schools and refused to accept that any child in them was a lost cause. She thought every student in the building belonged to her. Thousands of them did.

She and Robert came to Edisto ten years ago to retire, which she took as a loose suggestion. She worked multiple days a week at the Edisto Bookstore, kept the minutes for her neighborhood property owners association, held duties as Senior Warden at St. Francis Episcopal Church, and the sea turtles — the long summer days inventorying, watching over the nests, waiting for the hatch and making sure the small ones found the water. She spent years of her life guiding others toward the sea.

She is survived by her husband of twenty-nine years, Robert B.Hild; her stepchildren, Joanna Bentz (David), George Jason Hild (Rebecca), and Clinton Hild; her grandchildren, Christopher, Sara, Teddy and Georgia; her mother, Betty Shelley; and her siblings, Bonnie Shelley, William Shelley, and Helen Barte. She was preceded in death by her father, Herman Shelley, and her sister, Linda Perline. She leaves behind many nieces and nephews, all of whom she made feel like her favorite.

She was a devoted daughter, wife, stepmother, grandmother, aunt, cousin and caretaker of families and friends. She was a guiding light to all of her friends on Edisto. And there was always, always the smile.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made in Jean’s name to Saint Francis Episcopal Church on Edisto Island, South Carolina where Jean was an integral part of her congregation. A celebration of life will be held at Saint Francis Episcopal Church, Edisto Island on a date that will be announced at a future time.