Mary Cooper Murray

After a long life Mrs. Murray recently went home to the Lord Jesus Christ at the age of 105 years old on this past Sunday, morning on February 22, 2026. Mary accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior a few years ago, so we can take confidence in the fact that she is home with the Lord Jesus Christ now. May she rest in peace and love with Jesus.

Mrs. Murray was born on May 7, 1920 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her parents were Dr. Stewart R. Cooper and Josephine Cooper. Dr. Cooper was formerly a Veteran in the US Army and had gone back to school after the war was over. He studied at Cornell University in New York, NY and obtained his PhD Degree, in Chemistry. So he decided to move to Washington, DC with his family consisting of his wife, Josephine Cooper, and their two daughters, Mary and Phyllis, and Phyllis was Mary's younger sister. Josephine, Mary's mother was a former Nurse, but now with two daughters to raise she decided to become a stay at home mom and raise the girls. Mary was about 2-1/2 years older than Phyllis.

It turns out that as she was growing up Mary showed a lot of interest in being a schoolteacher following in her dad's footsteps who was a teacher at the college level at Howard University in Washington, DC. Later Phyllis would follow Mary in the same track, and she became a schoolteacher as well. After finishing college at District of Columbia Minor Teachers College in Washington, DC, Mary ventured out to take a Master's degree at New York University. After graduating from New York University, Mary returned to Washington, D.C. and took a teaching job in the DC Public Schools at the elementary school level. Mary's son Steven was born on March 17, 1947. Steven was ushered into elementary school by his mother although he was never a student in her classroom. As it turns out this independence from Mom at school was probably better for Steven. As time passed Mary became a Principal in the School system and was assigned by the Board of Supervisors to run her own Elementary School. Mary remained in the school system as a Principal for many years, and then she retired at the ripe old age of 65. But after retiring she had a tireless energy and wanted to continue being active in community and educational programs. She was always going to some conference or program. This kept her involved in various school programs and professional organizations such as the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women, Alpha Kappa Alpha and many others. She even organized a scholarship program for young students who wanted to get ahead. She also organized art programs for students in the performing arts. There was no end to her interest in helping children to grow and achieve.

Mary was married to Louis E. Murray all her life. Louis was Steven's father and he was a good husband and father. Louis was born in Shreveport, LA and later lived in Dallas, TX where he grew up. He went to Wiley College, and later moved to Washington, DC where he met Mary around 1945. One of the things Mary and Louis liked to do together was travel. They traveled to far places like Egypt, Israel, India, China, Japan, various European countries, and many other places. They took Steven to go with them on the more relaxing trips like the Caribbean Islands such as the Bahamas, Jamaica, Turks & Caicos, or the Hawaiian Islands, etc. But Steven was not the traveler that Mary and Louis were and when they ventured to the far east or the far west, he would rather stay at home and watch football.Louis was formerly a Manager in the Building Operations of General Services Administration (GSA) for many years. He also had his own business known as Airmatic Cooling and Heating, Inc. which was an SBA partner and participated in the minority opportunity programs. Louis also had several restaurants in Washington, DC over the years, Lockamore, Bengazzi, and Louis & Alex. Dad liked the New Orleans style from his days in Shreveport, La. He would serve good food along with good musical entertainment back in the 1950's and 1960's when his son Steve was young and impressionable and learning about the entertainment side of life. Dad had people like Louis Armstrong, Billie Holliday, Nat King Cole, and others to perform at his restaurant. Dad made the best cheese burgers with fried onions, lettuce and tomatoes and mayonnaise in town according to Steve. Yes, Mom used to enjoy the jazz music, and so did I. But she did not like the night life so much. She was never a drinker. But she knew how to have a good time still.One last thing I would like to share is this. Mary's father, Stewart, the Chemistry teacher, was also a person who liked to enjoy the outdoors life. He bought 12 acres of land in Marydel, MD, which was a rustic area, and he built a small house there and planted a garden there, and invited the family to come and spend the summer days there every year.

As a school teacher he had the summer vacation time every year even at the college level. He loved to go fishing, hunting and explore things, and a lot of times he dragged Steven with him. So the family would come and join him for a few days. This included Mary, Louis, her husband, Phyllis, Mary's sister, Albert, Phyllis' husband, Josephine Mary and Phyllis' mother, and Steven, and sometimes other friends would drop in. We had interior and exterior bathrooms, we had a well for drinking water, we had a kerosene stove for cooking, we had a wood burning stove to warm the house when it was cold, we had fresh produce to pull up out the ground every day including tomatoes, onions, squash, fruits like apples, peaches, watermelons, and the like. So this was our little paradise. My grandfather and I tried to come down early and fix things before the others came. But after he got older he could not keep it up any more, and the house and the farm deteriorated, and eventually it was destroyed.

So the scripture in Ecclesiastes seems to be applicable here "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit ha a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away and another generation comes. The whole earth abides forever." Eccl. 1-4 That which has been is what will be. That which is done is what will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun." Eccl. 1:9 "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments. For this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment. Including every secret thing, whether good or evil." Eccl. 12:13-14