Jerry F. Murray
Marriages
Janice Slaugenhaupt Murray
Burial Details
Obituaries
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 7 B Death Notice - June 25, 2014
Jerry F. Murray, 68, Cedaredge, died June 20, 2014, at his home.
Services will be at 9 a.m. Sunday in the New Elmwood Cemetery in Fruita.
Survivors include his wife, Janice Slaugenhaupt Murray; two
sons, Joddy of Texas and Brad of West Virginia; one daughter, Tammy of Delta, two step-daughters, Geneva Nall of Loveland and Regina Mathews of Hawaii; two stepsons. B.J. Nall of Commerce City and Jerry Wayne Prock of Oregon; nine grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 3 D Obituary - June 26, 2014
Jerry Murray
February 17, 1946 - June 21, 2014
My Dad was a charismatic, fun loving man. Most who knew him had undergone some sort of prank or joke that you may or may not have known you were an active participant. Laughter, partying, and traveling the road was a way of life for him. He seldom had respect for rules and simply made his own. He made up lyrics to songs that were funny and showed his comical nature this way. I can still hear him sing. He loved, laughed, and sang with whiskey, Waylon, and women, and not necessarily in that order. My Dad was a stand up man. Anyone who crossed him knew it was a mistake. Women loved my Dad and many men wanted to be like him. He idolized Elvis and John Wayne and in many ways, he was like them. He always had a posse of friends surrounding him and the camaraderie of brotherhood always comforted him. He would consistently lend a hand to a friend in need.
My favorite memories of my father include when I asked him “where do turkeys come from?”. He looked at his mother-in-law (my mom’s mom), and said “When old ladies die, they bury them and they become turkeys next spring for next Thanksgiving dinner”. He said this after a disagreement with my grandma during a Thanksgiving dinner. My Dad built a sail line out of PVC pipe and styrofoam. It was ingenious. My step-mom, Drenda, made little sails with scrap cloth and the fishing contraption could set sail. The line connected with several different length lines with hooks and awful smelling bait. He made a container to house the line spool and he sat on it while drinking a beer, and I saw true contentment in him. After having a beer, he would reel the line in, and collect his fish. He caught flounder, sea bass, and even a baby shark. The shark was among other unspeakable barbecue menu items. My Dad loved the barbeque that his late father-in-law, Les, made, and he put various fish and mammals and even a baby shark on this grill. My Dad was a creative barbecuer and there was always a distinct, special chicken taste on the grill that has seasoned it to this very day.
We even ate rattlesnake once. Ewwww.
My Dad taught me how to catch shrimp in a net he bought for me as a teenager, and we went together on many occasion to Padre Island and Port Aransas, Texas for my Dad’s next barbeque surprise. I remember walking on my Dad’s feet as a little girl and following behind him everywhere he went. I remember sitting on my Dad’s lap many times while he comforted me about the loss of a pet, or just to show how much he loved me. He taught me to ride a bicycle and to have no fear. He bought me my first car and taught me humility by making me drive it. He bought me a trampoline when I was 11 years old, and that thing entertained me and all my excess energy to the day he dropped me off to go into the Air Force in 1987.
I am eternally grateful for my father and the compassion and attention he showed me growing up. The laughter we had together taught me life long coping skills, this is fully to his credit. Thank you Dad. I love you.
Goodbye. Your loving Daughter, Tammy.
