Individual Details

Death

CLEWISTON — Ernest T. Furr, 57, died March 15 on Lake Okechobee. He was a Commercial fisherman, a member of Mandarin Baptist Church and a native of Dallas, Ga. He is survived by his wife, Florence; two sons, James of the U.S. Navy, and Ernest H. of Clewiston; two daughters Mrs. Ann McCullum and Mrs. Sarah B. Hammock both of Jacksonville; five brothers George, Grady, Rader, and Ralph all of Powder Springs, Ga., and Ray of Marietta Ga.; three sisters, Mrs. Lou Wallace of Eastpoint, Ga., Mrs. Bessie Hansurd of Lithia Springs, Ga. and Mrs. Margie Reece of Marietta, Ga.; and ten grandchildren. Funeral service will be held today at 2 p.m. at Pattison Funeral Chapel. Burial will be Monday in Old Mandarin Cemetery, Jacksonville.
News-Press, Fort Myers, Florida, March 21, 1976

CLEWISTON — The search for a commercial fisherman missing in Lake Okeechobee since Monday ended yesterday morning when his body was found floating west of Ritta Island. Hendry County Sheriff Earl Dyess said the body of Ernest Furr, 57, of 420 Ibispo St., was discovered by two commercial fishermen about 10:40 a.m., three hours after a search plane spotted his aluminum craft, minus its outboard engine, sunk in shallow water near Grassy Island two miles away. The body was returned to Clewiston and then taken to Fort Myers where an autopsy will be performed. Hendry sheriff's deputies and officers of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission scoured the lake for five days even though there was little hope of finding Furr alive. They were assisted by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office as well as local commercial fishermen and private citizens. One son, James C. Furr, 30, was at his parents home on emergency leave from a New Jersey Naval Installation during the week-long search, along with his brother Ernest Hulon Furr of Clewiston Furr’s daughter and son-in-law came from Jacksonville to be with the family. Furr began commercial fishing in 1967 and moved to South Florida in 1973, dividing his time between Lake Okeechobee and the Fort Myers area.
The Palm Beach Post, West Palm Beach, Florida, March 20, 1976