Sandra Fern Murray

August 31, 1946 – January 9, 2021

It is with heavy hearts and extreme sadness that the friends of Sandy announce her passing on Sat, Jan 9th in Merritt, BC. At age 74, she was taken from us far too soon.

She was born in North Vancouver on August 31, 1946 to Art and Annie Lewis and lived in BC her whole life. She had many passions and she is remembered for the joy she received at pursuing them. Her family had a cabin on Keats Island and as a child she started her rock and shell collections there. Sandy worked as a Kitchen Aid at Lions Gate Hospital for 4 yrs while living at home and during her vacations she still loved going to that cabin. During that time she met the love of her life, Bill Murray, and in 1971 they were married.

For about 20 yrs they lived in many locations around the Lower Mainland while Billy drove truck. Sandy was a housewife who never had to work another day in her life as Billy said that he wanted to take care of their financial needs. This left a lot of time in her days. Billy and Sandy loved animals and so it was a momentous day in her life when he found Skunkers, her beautiful black horse. Sandy would drive to Richmond 2 or 3 times a week, with their dog Rusty, to where Skunkers was boarded. Many fun days were spent training him, riding and of course cleaning his stall. Rusty, Skunkers and Sandy were inseparable. During this time at the Coast, Sandy started collecting artifacts of early Canadian life; both Indigenous and early Canadian culture. She painstakingly created replicas of many First Nation pieces using materials that were available to her. They are works of art. Other activities she enjoyed were roller skating, caring for her beautiful flower gardens (she especially loved roses and Azaleas), cooking, music and adding to her many treasured collections.

In the late 1980’s they were getting tired of the noise and confusion of the big city and wanted to have a more peaceful life. They found a property in Brookmere. While the house was being built in 1991, Sandy lived in a little old log cabin on the property while Billy’s trucking work was still based at the Coast. She loved the outdoors and spent a lot of time exploring on her trike and snowmobile or looking for rocks on the river bank with friends and neighbours. Thynne and Shovelnose Mts were in her backyard. In addition she loved getting firewood and the warmth of a wood stove.

Trips to town or to the Coast were very exciting for her and always included scouting for new additions to her many collections. She accumulated many books, was self-taught and was very knowledgeable in so many things.

In the last couple of years with the help of a special neighbour, Leesa, they designed and created a lily pond in her backyard. She so enjoyed peaceful times amongst the flowers, fish and bugs.

She is predeceased by her brother Wayne, and her husband Billy. She will always be remembered and deeply missed by her special friends Hilary, Marian and Ken, Leesa and Ed, Julie and Ken, Helga, and Marge. A huge thank you goes to special friend and neighbour Leesa who included her as part of her family and was her long time care giver while she was at home and also when she had to move to town. In addition, a thank you goes to the staff at the Florentine in Merritt who put up with her stubborn ways and won her over with good food, friendship and loving care.

By request there will be no service. Her ashes will be combined with her beloved Billy and 2 dogs and scattered in the outdoors she loved.