Obituary of Eleanor B. Murray
Eleanor B. Murray (née Higgins) died on Tuesday, September 10, at the age of 94. She was born in Philadelphia, PA, on April 4, 1930, the youngest child of Bernard J. and Mary P. (Donohue) Higgins. Eleanor was predeceased by her four siblings — Joseph Higgins, Mary Runzer, Bernice Magee, and Clare Potterton —and by her husband, Iain Blair Murray.
Eleanor grew up in Frankford and attended St. Joachim’s Church. One of her earliest memories was fighting with Clare over the miniature flags to put along the front stoop for Decoration Day, followed by the family watching from the porch as the parade passed by – led by elderly veterans of the Civil War in wheelchairs, wearing the worn blue uniforms of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Eleanor graduated from Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls in 1948 and was a fiercely loyal alumna her entire life. She began her career as a secretary at Sun Oil before joining the State Department in 1955. Following a stint in Washington, D.C., assisting immigrants under the Refugee Relief Act, Eleanor was assigned to the U.S. embassy in Lima, Peru, where she served as personal secretary to the Counselor for Economic Affairs. A highlight of her government service was sitting between and chatting with Bill Russell (gregarious; great sense of humor) and K.C. Jones (quiet and shy) at a luncheon for the U.S. basketball team on their South American tour prior to the Melbourne Olympic Games.
It was while a member of embassy staff that Eleanor met her husband, Iain Murray, a Glaswegian expat who worked as a plant engineer for the sugar haciendas of W.R. Grace. They were married on July 5, 1958, and lived in Peru for another decade before returning to the United States.
In 1968, Eleanor and Iain and their baby daughter settled in Plainfield, NJ, where the couple resided for the rest of their lives. A decade later, she returned to her career, and Eleanor’s need for intellectual stimulation found a home in the profession of legal secretary. She was employed by Carter, Van Rensselaer & Caldwell (now CVRF) for twenty years, until her retirement in 2004.
In addition to her interest in politics and current events, Eleanor had a lifelong love of literature, theater, and film. Her favorite author was Toni Morrison, whom she placed just below God and the Pope (or just below God, depending on how His Holiness was behaving that day); she was a huge fan of Stephen Sondheim; and the only technology Eleanor insisted on knowing how to navigate as she aged was the change from VHS to DVDs.
Eleanor is survived by a daughter, Gillian Murray (John Wilman), of Plainfield, and beloved nieces and nephews.
A memorial visitation will be held on Friday, September 20, 2024, from 4 PM to 8 PM and Saturday, September 21, 2024, from 9 AM to 11 AM at Higgins Home For Funerals, 752 Mountain Blvd., Watchung, NJ. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, September 21, 2024, at 11 AM at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that gifts be directed to Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls to the Eleanor Higgins Murray’48 Memorial Scholarship Fund, or to your local library in honor of her voracious reading habit.
