Everett Murray, who worked at WSU Prosser from June 1958 to Nov. 1983, died at home in Prosser on Sept. 4, 2017.
Murray was born Nov. 21, 1921, in Alta Vista, Kansas, the youngest of five children born to William Simpson Murray and Nettie Generva (Whittaker) Murray.
His youth and young adult life were spent in Kansas. He was employed 1952-56 at Beech Aircraft near Herington, Kansas, before relocating to Prosser in 1957. In 1962, he married Donna June (Thompson) Johnson and they blended a family of 10 children between the ages of two and sixteen.
Murray was employed at the WSU Agriculture Research and Extension Center and was fortunate to work for Merrit Ikely, who became a lifelong friend. Everett spent summer vacations working the wheat harvest for Rod Travis and winter vacations deer hunting with friends. Always the gentleman farmer, Murray had a myriad of farm animals on his Steele Road property. He was a frequent morning customer at the feed store “coffeehouse” with the Murphy brothers, Vic and Bill, and in the afternoon you could find him at his picture window, monitoring and reporting on the daily traffic to all who visited.
Murray is survived by 10 children: Nolan Murray, Bradley (Joyce) Murray, Connie (Jeff) Huber, Sharon (Jim) Fulton, Pamela (Jule) Weil, Clayton (Judy) Johnson, Barbara Brant, Leonard Johnson, Diane (Steve) Woods and LaDonna (Geoff) Jolly, as well as 32 grandchildren, 51 great-grandchildren, 12 great-great-grandchildren and 6 nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 16 years, Donna (1978), his great-grandson Matthew James Cole Murray II (1995), his grandson Gary Allen Murray (2015) and his siblings: Violet May Syring, Goldie Elizabeth Adam, Dora Louise Wendt and Leslie Robert Murray. Also preceding him in death was his close circle of friends who created but denied the existence of a daily telephone tree: Bill Pickard, Babe Dare and Don Eucker.