Obituary of David George Murray

David George Murray, FAIA lived a long, productive and exemplary life. Dave passed away peacefully Tuesday February 17, 2015 at the age of 95. Born November 9, 1919 in Tulsa he was the first child of Cloyd and Marion Murray. He was later, followed by his sister Margaret Marion and his brother Lee Cloyd, both of whom pre-deceased him. David graduated from Tulsa Central High School in 1938 then went to Oklahoma A&M where he graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Architecture. Upon graduation he then entered the Army Engineers as a Second Lieutenant. He was not fond of the Engineers and transferred to the Paratroops. He contended later that “one’s intelligence was inversely proportionate to the number of times one voluntarily jumped out of a perfectly good airplane!” Subsequently, he got orders to pilot training and flew P-51D’s during WWII. Although never seeing combat be boasted that no enemy ever penetrated into the interior of Central Florida while he was there training! While at Okla. A&M he met Margaret Oldham, a Pi Phi from Oklahoma City! Not so strangely he was a Sigma Nu and their respective houses were next door to each other. Ultimately while in pilot training he married Margaret in 1944, arguably the achievement of which he was most proud. He is honored to be in the OSU Engineering Hall of Fame and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He was a founding member of the Northeastern Oklahoma AIA chapter. And man, was he successful! He began his career with Mr. A.M. Atkinson and, when Mr. Atkinson retired he formed the firm David G. Murray and Associates. Lucy and I remember walking to his office, which was on the second floor above the Brook Theatre on Peoria, from our house on 33rd Street in Brookside. In 1954 he, with the perfect partners, brother Lee and Robert Lawton Jones, formed one of the most successful architectural firms in Northeastern Oklahoma, Murray Jones Murray, Inc.. The firm was responsible for the design of Tulsa International Airport’s terminal (1962), the Tulsa Assembly Center (now Maxwell Convention Center), Bishop Kelly High School, and First Place Tower, (then First National Bank of Tulsa) among many others. He was always civic minded and served for over 40 years on the board of Goodwill Tulsa and was twice president of Downtown Unlimited. One of favorite memories was of his time in Tulsa Rotary Club. He was member of Southern Hills Country Club where, through dedication and hard work, he became a self-described “career mediocre golfer”. He was preceded in death by Margaret, his wife of 64 years, his son Patrick and grandson Scott. He is survived by son, Mike Murray and daughter Lucy Scheer, four grandchildren and one great granddaughter. Memorial service will held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday February 21, 2015 in the Ninde Brookside Chapel. There will a reception in the lobby of the Ninde Brookside Funeral Home immediately following the memorial service. In lieu of flowers please make remembrances in his name to the Alzheimer’s Association or to a charity of choice. Ninde Brookside – www. ninde.com