Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death.
Betty Jean Murray was born Sept. 7, 1929, in Mitchell, Ore., to Chester Keeton and Crystal (Stephens) Keeton. She passed away at her home in Hood River, Ore., on Feb. 2, 2020, in the company of her family, from complications of a stroke. Betty was 90 years old.
Betty attended schools in Mitchell, Ore., and Central Calif., graduating from high school at Hepner, Ore., in 1947.
After graduation, Betty married her sweetheart, Wilbur Murray of Dayville, Ore. The couple lived in Dayville where Wilbur was involved in both logging and ranching.
Around 1954 Betty and Wilbur moved to The Dalles, Ore., where Betty was a homemaker and mom to a growing family. In 1961, they moved to Hood River. Wilbur was a trained auctioneer, and he and Betty started the family business, Murray's Auction Center, at their home property on Belmont Drive. Over the years, the livestock auction evolved into a furniture and estate auction, and then into a retail furniture store. During this entire time, Betty was a fulltime mom to three kids as well as the bookkeeper and financial manager of the business. She continued in this role as the business expanded into town, into what are now the two Murray's owned furniture stores; Murray's Furniture and the Ashley Homestore.
In what little spare time she had outside of taking care of the family and the business, Betty always really enjoyed being outside working on her flowers. She kept a beautiful yard and was quite proud of it. Betty and Wilbur also enjoyed traveling, with their favorite place being Reno, Nevada. They had many favorite slot machines where they hit many big jackpots and had a great time doing it.
Betty was a wonderful wife and mother and was loved immensely by her family. She was a sweet, kind, generous person who will be greatly missed by all. She was baptized into Christ at the Hood River Church of Christ.
Betty is survived by her son Greg Murray of Hood River; daughters Lynn Murray Lee of Lake Oswego, Ore., Kit (Gary) Borton of Hood River, Ore.; brother Jim Keeton of John Day, Ore.; four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years Wilbur Murray; son-in-law Tim Lee; and her parents.
A private service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Heart of Hospice c/o Anderson's Tribute Center.
Arrangements are under the direction of Anderson's Tribute Center 1401 Belmont Avenue, Hood River, Oregon 97031. Visit www.Andersons TributeCenter.com to leave a note of condolence for the family.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) entries
Sign the guestbook.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.