Classmate, Ann Whitney Floor was asked by Richard's sisters to write an obituary for the Salt Lake Tribune. It can be found here:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/saltlaketribune/name/richard-murray-obituary?id=55166268

I went to visit Richard in Oregon May 15th, 2024 and to my horror, found him deceased in the middle of his beloved iris.

The artist, Richard Murray, is very googleable. There are many articles that include pictures of his wonderful nature preserve and his studio/home. Please explore them:

https://www.sarahgreenman.com/blog/2015/05/houzz-tour-richard-murray.html

http://maisonboheme.blogspot.com/2015/03/richard-murrays-live-work-art-studio.html

Richard and I spent hours talking on the phone after he moved to Oregon. I always ran for a pencil and paper when he called because I knew he would say something hilarious or have books, music or videos to recommend.  He had a sharp wit and  extensively varied knowledge.  He made up a term for women who are clueless about how they move in any given space. It was: gynokinesthesia. An example would be a lady blocking the aisle in a grocery store.

Richard didn't own a cell phone, wasn't on the internet and didn't have network TV. He watched videos and read extensively.  Many considerred him old-fashioned, but there was a purity about his approach to information.

Richard was shy and felt awkward through his primary and secondary education. In phone calls, I would tell him the people I had added to the "In Memory" section and the ones he would want print-outs of were students like him, not the ultra-popular. He felt the bad things that happened to him in school probably had given him immunity in the present.

Some of our classmates were lucky enough to own some of Richard's art. Some classmates took paintings on consignment and never returned them or paid for them. You know who you are and so do I.

On our last phone call, before I left for Oregon, I asked him how he felt about his artistic career. He said there were days he would look at a particular painting and say, "God, I was on my game that day!"

I was going to make a long list of things Richard loved, but this poem by his Richland, Oregon friend, Linda Joy Cordtz says it much better:

The horses knew first and told the snake

That our good friend Richard had passed.

Swans heard it from the iris,

That bore it on the breeze, telling the meerkats.

And soon they gathered under the starry sky,

Monkeys, turkeys, elk, owls, deer and skunks.

The ostriches, helped him stand and he walked freely

Among them, holding a hare to his chest.

Chickens and peacocks, guinea hens, cougars and bison.

The eagles, brought the wrens, the owls nestled

On the musk ox back, as they celebrated him.

The leaves whispered and the flowers bloomed,

And still they came.

The milk cow, a wood duck, a lynx with a coyote,

A grand moose, with cranes, followed by the raccoons.

The mountain goat, the fox, a black bear and the wolf.

All the dogs barked and ran, as the bighorn sheep  

Circled back to see him looking out at the pond.

But the Raven called, and still they all came, to walk him

Home.

R.I.P., dear Richard  -   K. Schoenhals