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1. David Alan MURRAY (photo) was born on 10 Jul 1945 in Kentwood,
Tangipahoa, Louisiana,USA 70422.
Nicholas Russell Murray and Dorothy Lou Ledbetter had six sons, Nicholas Russell Jr, John Lee, Patrick Thomas, David Alan, Michael George, and James Richard.
Father Nicholas suffered greatly from TB. He was confined to a hospital in New Orleans for over six months where he was not expected to survive the illness. Several ribs along with about half of his lung tissue were removed in surgery. His physical condition never recovered but he lived forty-one more productive years. The later three sons were born after the bout with TB.
Nicholas and Dorothy had both been journalism students at LSU. Nick completed his B.S. there but Dorothy did not. Nick's first job was as a school teacher in Kentwood.
The Kentwood Commercial was purchased and the Murrays began their lifelong careers as newspaper publishers.
Their fourth son, David, was born in Kentwood, La. In 1947 Patrick was killed while trying to cross under a train that barred the boys' path to a swimming/fishing hole. The relationship between Dorothy and Nick Jr was severely damaged by the tragedy and effected both for the rest of their lives. Shortly thereafter the Murrays moved 20 miles south to Independence and started their second publication "The Independent".
The family's economic condition and Nicholas's poor health dictated that both parents work (an uncommom thing at that time), so the kids spent much of their early years with their grandparents in Kilgore, TX.
For as long as anyone can remember David was very adamant about what he would and would not eat. His younger brothers followed his lead and their eating habits were affected until they became adults. Athletics provided an outlet to David's competitive nature. He excelled in marbles, tetherball, basketball, boxing, softball and swimming.
His teen years were devoted to baseball, football, swimming and skydiving. David was an all star pitcher in Little League and Babe Ruth baseball. He has always wondered how his life would have turned out if he had not injured his arm before a St. Louis Cardinals tryout at Athletic Field in Ponchatoula. He was quarterback of the Hammond High School Junior Varsity football team. In competive swimming David won eleven first place trophies and finished second once. He is proud to have been the founding president of the Southland Skydiving Club while still in high school.
David graduated from Hammond H.S. in 1964 after returning from six months active duty training as a medic in Co D 20th Special Forces National Guard unit in Baton Rouge. He served eight years in the elite unit. 1964 was a busy year, he attended Southeastern La. Univ. as a freshman, was married in Magnolia, MS, and became a father. His marriage to Veronica Fannaly only lasted 2 years. After a 2 year divorce/custody battle that ended at the State Supreme Court, he gained custody of Deborah Frances (then 4 years old).
David wed Joyce Marie Newman March 22, 1968 in Hammond, LA. Kelley Lynn was born May 15,1969 at 7th Ward Hospital as was her older half sister. The four then moved to Brevard County, FL near David's older brother, John.
In the 3.5 years that David worked for the local Gannett newspaper "Today" he attended Brevard Community College seeking a marine tech degree, fought two more custody battles, and sired two more daughters, Katherine Susan and Dorothy Ann.
The family spent another year in Ft. Lauderdale where David worked two jobs, as a shift foreman in photo-engraving with the Sun-Sentinel and as a pressman for a Deerfield newspaper. Joyce was a caseworker with the Florida Division of Family Services as she had been in Rockledge,FL.
The family returned to Louisiana where David worked as a lithographer for several job shops, Joyce sold "Home Interiors" items and worked for the United States Postal Service. Another custody fight convinced David to sever all ties in Louisiana until Debbie was grown. The family secretly moved to Bountiful, Utah in the fall of 1976.
In the summer of 1981 Debbie reestablished contact with Veronica and moved back to Louisiana to live with her.
As David worked for several printing companies the family started it's own business, Bountiful Printing. BP had several very good years. The profits from those good years funded the creation of Joyce's pet project, Merry Makers, a nursing home corporation funded by a bingo parlor. Virginia Lee and David Alan, Jr. were born in 1977 and 1983, respectively at Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, Utah.
By 1988, the problems associated with Joyce working full time at Merry Makers in Louisiana and David splitting his time between the family, printing and attending the University of Utah became more than the marriage could endure. Shortly after the divorce in 1989 David and Dixie Ann Owens Colby were wed in the home of close friends in the Salt Lake area.
David had continued his interest in the military, first with the Naval Intelligence Unit IPAC 0220 and then with the 144th Utah Army Guard Mobile Hospital Unit. He went on active duty 1 Jan 1990 in a 91C Nurses Training Program at Salt Lake Community College. He did not complete the course. Instead the unit was activated for deployment in Saudi Arabia in the Desert Shield / Desert Storm operation.
Dixie was involved in a serious automobile accident before Operation Desert Storm, rupturing two discs in her neck. She was no longer able to work with jewelry settings at O. C. Tanner's as she had for the ten preceeding years. This sudden change in lifestyle combined with absence of her new husband made her susceptible to persuasions by David to have a child. Patrick Vernon was born to David and Dixie via surrogate mother and egg donor, daughter-in-law Kathryn Oppenhiemer Colby, wife of Dixie's son Michael Scott Colby.
Dixie's other son Mark was having marital problems, so his son Cody Ray Colby, age 10, chose David and Dixie as his guardians in July 1994. On Dec 16, 1996 David and Dixie adopted Cody who then became Cody Colby Murray.
David had previously entered the University of Utah's graduate program in sociology. Persian Gulf Illness complicated family life as well as graduate school. Although David served as Sociology Graduate Advisory Chair and was awarded Outstanding Graduate School Student of the year, his chronic fatigue and irritability contributed to his failure to complete the requirements of a Ph.D.
The incident that participated David's leaving of school was his decision to represent a student who accused a department untenured professor of cheating for the coveted Outstanding Teacher of the year in the College of Behavioral Science. The student was Dixie, the Chair of Undergraduate Advisory Committee. Her admission to Grad school was withdrawn. The professor was denied tenure and moved out of state.
Although ultimately the charges were confirmed, students DO NOT challenge faculty and survive. Dixie received her B.A. from Regents College of New York. David was terminated from the graduate program and consequently did not publish his successfully defended thesis.
He currently resides at 3878 W. 3200 So. in West Valley City, UT 84120-2154.
