Anne McMurray

Our beloved mother, Anne Royal McMurray, passed away peacefully on Monday, May 25, 2015 in Webster City at the age of 88. Anne was born in Des Moines, Iowa on August 16, 1926 to Isabel Beatrice Johnstone Royal and Clifton Royal. Anne grew up in a lively household with three older brothers, Lewis, Dick and Clifton. She enjoyed spending time with her maternal grandmother, Anna Evers Johnstone, who owned the home and lived upstairs. As a girl, our mother worked in her father's law office cutting and pasting new statutes into his law books. She also enjoyed a job as a sales clerk in the original Younkers Department Store in downtown Des Moines. Her grandmother and mother were both osteopaths and saw their patients at the house. Our mother graduated from North High School in the class of 1944 and decided to attend Grinnell College. Anne met and became friends with another freshman, Mary McMurray, from Webster City. After the war ended, Mary introduced Anne to her brother, Charles McMurray, who had just enrolled in Grinnell College after he finished his service in the U.S. Army. They fell in love and were married on July 31, 1948 after Anne graduated from colleg...[more]

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They stayed in Grinnell until Charles graduated the following year and then moved to Webster City, where he joined his father Murray and brother John in running the family business, Murray McMurray Hatchery. It was ironic that our mother, who had a lifelong allergy to eggs, had a wonderful marriage to a man who co-owned a baby chick hatchery. Our mother told us that the 1950s were a "blur" as she gave birth to five children in nine years. As her children grew up, she spent time as a Cub Scout and Girl Scout leader, a Sunday school teacher and PTA member at Pleasant View School. Our mother always had a sense of fun playing games, especially charades, board games, cards, and she regularly beat all of us at ping-pong. At age 40, she was still standing on her head. She helped us learn to swim at the family cottage in Clear Lake and tried to teach us Spanish at the breakfast table. After we went to bed, she would read, as it was the only quiet time in the house. This love of reading was passed on to her children. Anne was a leader in the League of Women Voters, her PEO chapter, delivered Meals on Wheels and loved to gather with her friends in the bridge and travel club. Some of her favorite times included holiday gatherings, travels with Charles throughout Europe and Asia, family reunions and a 50th wedding celebration in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Visiting Sweden to see the tiny village her grandmother emigrated from was another treasured memory. Our parents celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary on July 31, 2014. Anne is survived by her five children, Douglas ( Dianne) McMurray of St. Paul, MN; David (Joan) McMurray of Corvallis, OR; Margaret ( Denise ) McMurray of Madison, WI; Scott (Stephanie) McMurray of Spring Lake, NJ and Beth McMurray of St. Thomas, USVI. They have eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Anne was preceded in death by her loving husband Charles on March 11, 2015, her parents and her three brothers. Contributions in her memory would be welcomed at the Kendall Young Library or First Congregational - U.C.C. A Celebration of Life will be held at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, June 2 at the First Congregational- U.C.C. in Webster City, with Rev. Craig Blaufuss officiating. Visitation will be at the Foster Funeral and Cremation Center from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 1. Write a personal tribute for the family at www.fosterfuneralandcremation.com.