Passed on: December 29th, 2011 MURRAY, Murdo (1922-2011) – A native of the Isle-of-Lewis in Scotland, RAF veteran of World War Two and professor of physics for 25 years at Memorial University – passed peacefully away at home, surrounded by family, on 29th December, 2011. Came to Newfoundland in February, 1959 to teach at Gander Academy and from 1963 till his death, a resident of Mount Pearl. Professor of physics at Memorial University from 1965 to 1988, he loved his work. All his life, he was active; he was an avid gardener, an amateur artist, and a craftsman. He dearly loved both teaching and learning, studying almost every night of his life. He was a loving and supportive husband and a proud and caring father and grandfather. Predeceased by his sisters Christina and Mary, sister-in-law Meta, all his brothers-in-law: Norman, Neil, Donald, Donald, Albert and Clifford, niece Norma-Ann and nephew Murdo. Survived by his loving wife of 51 years, Hilda (née Chaulk); children: Peigi (Jon), Andrew (Jennifer) and Iain (Cathy); four grandchildren: Bryant, Brandon, Jessica and Brooklyn; older sisters: Annie and Gormelia; sister-in-law Pamela and many special nieces and nephews throughout Britain and Canada, farflung cousins as far away as Australia and a dear family friend, Ivy. The family is grateful for the care and frequent visitations of Public Health Nurses Sharon and Louise and the Rev. David Burrows. Donations can be made in his memory to the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Diabetes Association, or the SPCA or flowers will be gratefully accepted. Visiting hours will be Saturday and Sunday, 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm both days at Barrett's Funeral Home, Commonwealth Avenue, Mount Pearl. Funeral will be held at the Church of the Ascension on 2nd January, 2012, 2 pm. Reception following in church hall. Cremation later.

Thank you note from Hilda (Chaulk) Murray

 

 

A person I had the utmost respect for and felt so fortunate to be under his tutelage for just those few years. It was also a great pleasure to meet him again at the 2005 reunion and renew our acquaintance. Most people were not aware that the he was from the same area in Scotland as Angus and Willie Taylor's mother. Both guys told me of the great shock to find him one afternoon sitting in their home having a cup of tea with their mother just after he had started teaching in Gander.

My personal condolences go out to his family.

Jack Pinsent - GA Class of 1960

I remember Mr. Murray, firstly when I was a student when he first arrived in Canada and took a teaching position at GA. Many of us share that memory. He taught us Physics and Chemistry and was, in my opinion, one of the best teachers we ever had. If you wanted to learn, Mr. Murray was the teacher to have.

There sprang a closer connection when he discovered that he was from the same part of the Outer Hebrides as my mother when he realized from our school records, that both myself and my brother Will were born there. He was from the Port of Ness on the Isle of Lewis and Harris and while there on a visit quite a few years ago, my wife and I paid a visit to some of his family members.  

As time went on he became ‘Murdo’ and his wife ‘Hilda’, who then was Miss Chaulk, also a teacher at GA. I came to know him in a different way later on in life when he was teaching physics at MUN. At the time I was a teacher in Labrador City and had the responsibility of teaching a Physics 101 course in Lab City through the MUN extension program. In setting up the program I remember going to visit him at MUN to seek his advice and guidance which he provided in his calm reassuring way. He was an enormous resource for me, more than he realized at the time.

It wasn't until we moved to English Harbour and came to know that he and Hilda lived in Maberly, which was close by on the Bonavista Peninsula, that we came to reconnect. We last saw Murdo in the summer of 2009 when we paid a visit to their summer home there (Hilda is from Maberly and as many of you know, has written and been published very extensively about Newfoundland life and culture). Typically, that social drop-in became a stay for supper giving us a chance to catch up and for me, to ask him more about his youth and how he came eventually to NL. That story should be told which would give you a real perspective of how good a person he really was.  Although I spoke to Hilda on the phone since, regrettably that was my last visit with him.

Mr. Murray the teacher, and Murdo the person I came to know better, was a great teacher and  student with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. His quiet, private and self- effacing manner was a refreshing  beacon in an world too often driven by ego and measured by celebrity status. To me, he was a quiet man, an uncomplicated man, and a damned good one.

Angus Taylor, GA Class of 1962

 

As a teacher in the Elementary section of Gander Academy (Angus Taylor, Robert Pelley and the ilk in Grade Seven). I was perhaps only vaguely aware of the need for a Science teacher in the high school section. I do know that the School Board was bringing in workers from the Weather Office to fill in, on their days off. They were all heart but lacked the knowledge needed and the coordination required to do anything near a bang up job.

We all breathed a sigh of relief when such a mature and devoted man as Murdo (as I learned to call him) came from the UK to our rescue.

We were also suitably impressed to learn that the task he did last 'back home' was to prepare a ‘ho to manual foe pilots’.

Years later in Mount Pearl, I was ever so pleased to know that Peigi  and later Andrew  and Iain, were the children of parents Murdo and Hilda (Chaulk) Murray. The adults brought a professionalism to Parents' Interviews.

Clarence Dewling, Teacher at Gander Academy 

 

Oh my goodness, what a sad news start to the new year. It was very interesting reading all about Mr. Murray's life - I had no idea where he had worked the rest of his life after Gander.  He certainly lived a long and full life.  Thank you to whoever found his obituary and shared it with us.
I do remember the year he came to teach us physics. We were learning the basics and it was one subject  which was just beyond me - he must have thought I was an idiot.  Doesn't seem quite so difficult now although not my area of interest. 

That year there was a teacher's strike and it seems to me that we (the students) took a day of in support of their strike.  My dad, Sandy Millar, came and filled in on the physics course for Mr. Murray and indeed maybe another subject.  I was really mad at my dad, because the first day he was going to teach, I was not ready when he was ready to leave for school, so he left without me and I had to walk.  Ok, I am still annoyed. 

Michal Millar Crowe, GA Class of 1960

 

Mr. Murray was probably the best teacher I ever encountered in high school or university. He had a thorough, firm and friendly manner about him, and even though I did not care for science, under his inspired tutelage, I took an interest in it and remember it was one of my highest marks in my final year at Gander.

Delighted to see he moved on to Memorial where his capable manner would have been similarly inspiring to his students. He was a born teacher and we are lucky to have had his guidance and knowledge to lean on. He will of course be missed, but he left a terrific legacy…

Ken Barnes, GA Class of 1960

 

I remember him well from his start at Gander Academy. He
really got me going into Physics and Chemistry.

Most of us knew "aluminum" as "a-lum-in-um". Well, with his
Scottish accent and all, he pronounced it "al-u-mini-um". To
this very day I have never forgotten that.

He also always wore his white lab coat into the classroom.

Norman Hounsell, GA Class of 1961

 

Mr. Murray was my grade 11 physics teacher at GA in 1959/60.

I remember him as well prepared, organized and professional.  He took the job seriously and insisted that we give him our full attention.  He also insisted on full attendance and did not take kindly to anyone missing class for "a day at the lake".

His concise statement of Pascal's law made and everlasting impression on me:  "Pressure applied to a liquid confined in a container is distributed undiminished to all parts of the liquid and acts in all directions."

He directed us to write it down, just that way, in our physics notes.
The physics notebook is long gone but I have to say Pascal's law endured in my memory right through engineering school and beyond. I'm still reminded of it,  and Mr. Murray, every time I've got something on the go that has anything to do with hydraulics.

He set a fine example in many other respects and I think we all turned out a little bit better for it.

Kind of a shame that by the time we realize some of these things it's too late to go back and say ‘thank-you’.

David Naish,  P.Eng, GA Class of 1960

 

My memories of Mr. Murray are brief but vibrant. Besides directing us in conducting experiments in a sparkling new school  laboratory, this teacher also brought  a greater understanding to me in terms of converting temperatures from Fahrenheit to Centigrade. Sadly, nowadays, instead of retrieving this information quickly, I remember more clearly how he pronounced those two words in his Scottish brogue.  That lilt in his speech was very poetic, I thought.

For a class (the Class of 1959) that was fun-loving and boisterous, Mr. Murray managed to instill in us a respect for order and learning. He set high standards, instructing us to diagram our experiments in great detail in our logbooks. His teaching style came through more in his demeanor and example than by command.

And as David Naish mentioned above, I am reminded of another law of physics that we learned—“A body when immersed in a liquid appears to lose in weight an amount equal to the weight that it displaces.”

Such were the laws of physics, none of which I think I ever used in life, however the man who taught us to exemplify these laws shall forever remain in my memory.

Faye Lewis Raynard, GA Class of 1959

 

I am very sorry to hear that "Mr Murray" has passed away.  I loved science
in high school and therefore always felt I had special relationship with
him.  But as I talked to students over the years, I discovered that we all
thought we had some special connection with this person - he was that rare
kind of teacher. He always keep very high standards and expected the best
from the group but at the  same moment, he took the time to motivate and
guide us as individuals.

But isn't it paradoxical how so often we learn about someone when is too
late. I didn't know he had been a WWII RAF vet and, being ex military
myself, would have dearly loved to talk with him about that.  I discovered
that he too was an artist which would have made another great subject of
conversation.

I also discovered that I might even be distantly related to Hilda. My
maternal grandparents were from Elliston and I passed many summer hours in
Sandy Cove, just minutes from Maberly. On the way to and from the beach, I
stopped off at Uncle Wallace Chaulk's house, so maybe there is connection.

To Hilda then, my deepest sympathies.

 Robert Pelley, GA Class of 62

 I certainly remember when Murdo came to teach at Gander Academy. I don't remember the exact date, but it was late in the term, about late February or early March. He was like a fresh breathe to our classes in Physics.

We had a rough year with that class (Physics) and went through a few people who tried to fill that role. I remember, shortly after he arrived, he started conducting a voluntary lab on Saturday mornings for anyone who wished to attend, and to my recollection, just about everyone did. We had never had a lab class before and except for watching a few experiments conducted by previous Physics teachers. We were new to this lab game. Murdo brought the subject alive and interesting. Sorry to hear that he has passed away. Deepest sympathy to Hilda and family.

James Butler, GA Class of 59