Robert Murrell was born in 1908 in Huntington, West Virginia. He attended college at West Virginia State and later received his Master's degree from West Virginia University in 1954. Robert served as the principal of a Black elementary school in Ronceverte, West Virginia before transferring to Bolling High School. After Bolling closed, Robert taught at the high school in Ronceverte and eventually taught driver's education at the consolidated Greenbrier East High School.
