Joseph David Purvis, Sr., a former official of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, died at his home in Vernonburg on Friday, June 27, 2008. He was 93.

He parted life reluctantly, having held together for long tenure despite a brain tumor and an impressive assortment of other ailments less intriguing than myeloproliferative syndrome, a blood disorder, the most recent diagnosis. In addition to the extra hole in his head, he had survived cancer for 44 years, thirteen surgeries and two heart attacks. Jokingly he urged his children to get a second opinion when death was pronounced.

Life to Purvis was an adventure, a journey to be relished, and a celebration to be savored despite tribulations along the way. His friends were legion and widespread and for more than thirty years after retiring in 1973, he was in touch with at least one every week that passed. His philosophy was simple: To succeed, work; to be happy, love.

The son of pioneer settlers in what is known as Wiregrass Georgia; Joseph David Purvis was born on December 22, 1914, in Ray City, Georgia, the son of Warren Walter and Ardelia Fender Purvis. He was the last of three sisters and five brothers.

He grew up in Willacoochee, Georgia, graduating from high school in 1932 as class valedictorian and attended South Georgia Teachers College Georgia Southern University where he majored in English and History. Upon graduation from college began his career as a newspaper reporter for the Savannah Evening Press. Soon after being named assistant city editor, he was recruited by the FBI as a Special Agent and served in various assignments over the next 32 years.

While at South Georgia Teachers College, he not only edited but served as campus correspondent for The George-Ann, the student publication; served as president of many student organizations; was a member of the school's basketball team, which won the state championship in 1934; and in his junior year, was honored by the faculty for his efforts to help establish a playground recreation program in Bulloch County.

Curiosity began gnawing at Purvis in childhood, when he became absorbed in books, a passion that lasted through old age, when his days were spent reading. As a teenager he hitchhiked 1, 000 miles to spend the summer exploring the sights and sounds of New York City while slinging hamburgers at five cents apiece to pay his way.

At one time or another while in high school, he battled the Great Depression by shining shoes for a nickel, sweeping the town's only sidewalk, selling newspapers for a penny profit, picking cotton, cropping tobacco and digging ditches, the latter for 50 cents a day.

Purvis was known for his pranks, such as the time one Halloween night, during the time he worked for the Evening News, when he and friends cavorted in the middle of Habersham Street dressed in borrowed convict suites. That was fun only until the police arrived but made for a better news item.

While in the FBI, Purvis had a part in many of its well-known investigations between the 1942 submarine landing of would-be Nazi saboteurs and the murder of two Special Agents in Washington, DC, thirty years later. Happy memories accrued for him in fifteen states as he worked through the ranks to become Assistant or Special Agent in Charge in division field offices in Cleveland, Milwaukee, Boston, Norfolk, Richmond, Savannah, and Washington DC before retiring as Assistant Director in Charge of the Identification Division at National Headquarters.

His time with the FBI was sometimes exciting, usually not, but always challenging. While walking in Times Square on April 16, 1942, he recognized a fugitive from Minnesota, age 23, whose picture was displayed in post offices everywhere. Instead of submitting to arrest, the fugitive started a two-block footrace through heavy pedestrian and automobile traffic. Finally overtaken, and exhausted, the young man gasped "Jesus Christ!!...they must…teach you guys…cross country running!" In 1969, he was especially proud of being able to name the first two black officials in FBI history. Purvis also was an instructor in law enforcement topics and firearms and was the recipient of numerous official commendations and meritorious awards during his tenure in the FBI

Following his retirement in 1973, Purvis served eight years as Chairman of the Chatham County Board of Registrars where he was intent upon applying the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; for ten years wrote a Sunday column for the Savannah Morning News; he served one or more terms in each of the Town of Vernonburg's offices – Clerk, Commissioner, Sheriff and Intendant; and established an endowed scholarship in the name of Caro Lane, a faculty member at South Georgia Teachers College GSU who had helped him through college financially. The scholarships criterion ignores grade point average and SAT scores in favor of "a hunger for knowledge and an inclination toward worthy living."

He was the author of four books: Savannah Bits and Pieces, The Era of J. Edgar, Growing Up in Willacoochee and Back to Folklore.

Former affiliations in Savannah included the Society of Former FBI Agents of the Coastal Empire; Georgia Southern Alumni Association; the Rotary Club, in which he was a director and Paul Harris Fellow; Cosmos Club; President, Young Men's Club Jaycee's, where he was selected as Outstanding Young Man in 1940; Coastal Empire Council, Boy Scouts of America; Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police; and the Savannah Yacht Club.

He was a long time member of Independent Presbyterian Church, where in 1955 he was ordained a ruling Elder; the Georgia Historical Society; and was a life member of the National Association of Colored People.

In Virginia, he was co-founder of the Norfolk Crime Clinic and active in the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police. In Washington DC, he held various titles in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, the federal Interdepartmental Intelligence Conference, Special Agents Mutual Benefit Association, Special Agents Insurance Fund and the Federal Law Enforcement Association.

Proceeded in death by Dorothy Debele, wife of 44 years and mother of his children and Louise Yeomans Emrich, wife of 13 years, he is survived by two daughters, Margaret P. Glading and Susan Waters Reese Mike of Savannah, two sons, David Rhonda of Martinsville, Virginia and John of Savannah; a stepdaughter, Beverly Brown Doug of Clarkesville, Georgia; a stepson, Arthur Emrich Joanie of Sarasota, Florida; steadfast and beloved caretakers Dorothy Baker and Phillip Draughorne; and five grandchildren, Michael and Michelle Waters, Jeremy, Joseph and Jacob Purvis and Jordan Evans; former sons and daughter-in laws, other family member Barry Waters; several nieces and nephews; and several special friends and neighbors.

His body was donated to the Medical College of Georgia. Memorial services will be held on Saturday, July 12, 2008, 2:00 p.m. at Independent Presbyterian Church, 207 Bull Street, Savannah, Georgia. Reception to follow the service in the church social hall.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances are invited to the Caro Lane Scholarship Fund, Georgia Southern University, P.O. Box 8053, Statesboro, Georgia 30460.

Please sign our on-line guestbook at www.foxandweeks.com.

Fox & Weeks Funeral Directors, Hodgson Chapel