David D. Murray (75) went to meet Jesus on August 31, 2023. Dave passed away at home in the arms of his loving wife, Betty Jo, alongside family and friends, after a courageous 13-month battle with a Glioblastoma brain tumor.
Dave was born in Pasco, WA to Austin J. Murray and Ramona A. (Nielsen) Murray on July 15, 1948. In 1953, the Murray family moved to the Wenas Valley near Naches and Selah.
Dave graduated from Naches High School in 1966 and attended Central Washington University, graduating in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. While attending CWU, he worked summers for the US Forest Service performing trail maintenance, building trails, and fighting forest fires.
In March 1977, he married Paula Osborn from Kittitas and they had three children, Kim, Christopher, and Kevin. Shortly after Kim was born, they moved to the Wenas valley to live close to his parents, start his orchard, and raise their family. They spent many of these early years picking apples, working on Austin's farm, and working on "old" cars.
At a very young age, Dave developed a passion for cars. His first job after college was selling new and used cars at Valley Ford. He always said selling cars taught him how to deal with people. He collected many old classic cars and restored several. If asked which of his old cars was his favorite, he replied "I just like them all."
Dave started his 40+ year commercial banking career with First Interstate Bank which eventually became Wells Fargo. The last 10 years of his banking career were with Wheatland Bank as a Sr. Vice-President. He was proud to have served on the senior loan committee which he continued to do for a few months after he retired April 1, 2017. His focus was agricultural lending, with many clients in Ellensburg, Kittitas Valley, and the Yakima area. It wasn't so much the banking he enjoyed as it was the clients and their families and visiting their farms, timing it just right to join them for a good old-fashioned farmer's lunch.
It was at a meeting for bankers that Dave met Betty Jo. After a two-year courtship, they married on Valentine's Day in 1997. At the time Betty Jo was busy with night classes to complete her post-secondary education so when Dave proposed she quickly said yes but knew they would need to wait until she got her degree. She told Dave, "Bet you never thought when you were in your 40's you would have to wait for your girlfriend to get out of school to get married".
Dave considered Naches his hometown and loved living in the Wenas. Many people referred to Dave and Betty Jo's home and farm as their little piece of heaven. He planted the 30-acre apple and pear orchard in the late 1980's and eventually took over Austin & Ramona's hay farm and later purchased the neighboring hay ranch growing their "hobby farm" to 330 acres while working full time at the banks. Dave had a very strong work ethic and four excellent, extremely loyal employees: Salvador Zaragoza, Juan Berber, Larry Carley, and Luis Arellano. A strong mutual respect and love exists between the Murrays and these four wonderful men. After retiring from banking, Dave and his little dog, Charlie, spent countless hours riding around the farm on the side-by-side. Dave absolutely loved hay farming and his hay clients quickly became friends. After loading hay on their pickup or trailer, he would get off his tractor and visit about old cars, politics, family, tell jokes and many stories.
Stories -- he loved telling stories about old times and life episodes. The stories were told often, and he didn't need much encouragement to tell them again. And each time they got better, and he laughed more. With a twinkle in his eye, he had fun teasing and telling jokes.
Dave & Betty Jo enjoyed traveling with close friends, Marty and Liz Assink. And it seemed that no matter where they went Dave always ran into someone he knew.
Dave was proud of his three children and always said "any day with the kids was a good day".
Dave was very active in the community, serving on several boards including the American Red Cross, Yakima Schools Foundation, Yakima County Development Association which included one year as the Board President, the Yakima County Noxious Weed Board, Wenas Irrigation District and several years as president of the Wenas Cemetery Board. For more than 30 years, Dave and his fellow banker friends could be found serving lamburgers on Tuesday night during the Central Washington State Fair. He was a member of St. John Catholic Church in Naches and a past member of Vintiques.
Dave is survived by his wife, Betty Jo (Stamschror) Murray and his children Kim (Murray) Tatro (Joe), Christopher A. Murray, and Kevin P. Murray; grandsons Jackson Tatro and Lucas Tatro; sisters Jerrene A. Murray (Steve Yochim) of Vancouver, WA, Pamela J. Wickersham (Jim) of Yakima, WA, and Valerie Jill Yearout of Selah, WA. His was preceded in death by his parents.
Dave's family would like to extend their gratitude and thanks for all the loving care provided to Dave by Annie Edwards, Cindy Lofland, and Mireya Rodriquez of Northwest Nurse Care. Also, to Lynda Campbell and Katie Martin of Mountainview Home Health and the caring staff at North Star Lodge and University of Washington Hospital.
In accord with Dave's wishes, the family kindly requests memorials be made to the Camp Prime Time Endowment Fund, the Central Washington Catholic Foundation, or the Yakima Humane Society.
Visitation is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Thursday, September 14, 2023, at St John Catholic Church in Naches followed by the Rosary at 6:00 p.m. The Mass of Christian Burial will be held at Holy Family Catholic Church Friday, September 15, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. Graveside committal will immediately follow at the Wenas Cemetery. A luncheon will be held at the Yakima Country Club immediately after the graveside service.
Many lives were touched by this great man, and he will never be forgotten. We will always love him, and he will always live in our hearts. May he rest in peace and may perpetual light shine upon him.
