Joan Murray

1933 - 2024

Joan Murray
10/13/1933 - 09/16/2024
Joan Cleaver Houck Murray, a lifelong music teacher with twenty-seven years at Aptos Middle School in San Francisco, Founder of the Golden Gate Philharmonic youth orchestra (GGP), and 2014 Jefferson Award recipient, died peacefully in her home on Monday, September 16, 2024.
Career Motivation
Ms. Murray's belief in the power of music education to help young people achieve their full potential was the primary motivation behind all her pursuits. It was this belief that ultimately led to the culmination of her life's work with the founding in 1995 of the Golden Gate Philharmonic youth orchestra (GGP). Through the GGP, Ms. Murray was able to reach out to children from every part of the socio-economic ladder across the city to help them rise. She once said, "Music education is the secret sauce that complements the rest of a child's education to make them confident, capable, disciplined kids who grow up to be valued members of society."
Ms. Murray fought for music education and advocated throughout the city to enroll children in music education. She said, "For inner-city kids, musical recognition is often the magic key that lifts them out of the doldrums and into an exciting new world. Because they are good at music, they become confident that they can be good in other things, too, like their academics! Then, doors start opening for them."
Ms. Murray believed in the intrinsic dignity of each life and sought to instill this in her students. As Rodrigo Ehecatl Durán, Executive Director of Carnaval San Francisco, says, "Ms. Murray saw me as an individual with complete agency-that my socio-economic status did not define who I was, but rather, that I was the protagonist in my own story. I was a scholarship kid, so l cleaned Ms. Murray's backyard in exchange for her paying for my expensive private lessons. I earned those lessons, and therefore I was always proud of the final output: my recitals. She was a monumental figure in my upbringing."
Early Years
Ms. Murray was born October 13, 1933 in Memphis, TN to Jane Cleaver and Jesse French Houck, Jr., a businessman whose family had owned music stores in several southern cities before the Great Depression. She grew up as Joan Cleaver Houck and attended public schools in Greenwood, MS, where she excelled in music as a clarinetist and student conductor of the Greenwood High School Concert Band. She was, in addition, selected to play first-chair clarinet in the Mississippi Lions' All-State Band, in which she also served as student conductor under the director, Roy M. Martin.
After graduating from high school, Ms. Murray enrolled in Louisiana State University's School of Music, switching from clarinet to violin in graduate school. She graduated from LSU in 1955 with a bachelor's degree in musical education, and in 1957 with a master's degrees in music. She went on to teach music in Mobile, AL, and Jacksonville, FL. In the wake of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Ms. Murray was reprimanded by her principal for telling her students that settling scores with violence is never acceptable. She decided it was time to head west and moved to the Bay Area.
Professional Career and Marriage in California
Ms. Murray studied with William de Pasquale (Philadelphia Orchestra) and Jacob Krachmalnick (San Francisco Symphony). Her experience with the Oakland, California Public Schools led to an offer to come to San Francisco in 1967 to conduct the orchestra and band of Aptos Middle School. After moving to San Francisco, she met and married Earl B. Murray, who had a distinguished musical resume himself, having been a member of the trumpet section and later Assistant Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, Associate Conductor of the Dallas Symphony, Music Director and Conductor of the San Francisco Ballet (23 years) and Conductor of the San Diego Symphony and the San Diego Ballet. Following his retirement, Earl Murray died in March 2002.
As a summer intern for Chevron, USA, Ms. Murray acquired business skills, which proved valuable in running the Aptos Creative Arts Fund, which she founded in 1993. Even in the face of massive budget cuts to the arts, Ms. Murray launched and supported music groups and orchestras, including The Peanuts/Portal Philharmonic, her Mentor Teacher Project in 1984. She worked to restore the choral and theater programs to Aptos's curriculum by enlisting parent and community support for these groups. She was a founding Board Member of MUSIC IN SCHOOLS TODAY and was a past president of the S.F. Association of Instructors of Music.
Distinguished Teacher Award & Founding of the Golden Gate Philharmonic
In 1990, Ms. Murray was one of two California teachers invited to Washington, DC to receive from President George H.W. Bush the Distinguished Teacher Award, given by the Commission on Presidential Scholars. After her retirement from the public schools in 1994, Ms. Murray joined the Preparatory Department faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. A year later, she founded a San Francisco all-city youth orchestra, the Golden Gate Philharmonic, which has taught more than 2,000 children since its founding and is now approaching its 30th anniversary,
Ms. Murray was a lifetime supporter of music camps. She attended, taught at, and ultimately served as Dean of Women at Brevard Music Camp near Ashville, NC. In 2002 she joined the Board of Cazadero Music Camp where she served as an Officer and member of the Advisory Board, Scholarship Committee, Hiring Committee, Viola Faculty at camp, and as a stalwart supporter of the camp.
Ms. Murray enjoyed performing in the viola sections of two orchestras in the Bay Area: Symphony Parnassus in San Francisco, and the Kensington Symphony Orchestra (KSO). Geoffrey Gallegos (a former student of hers at Aptos Middle School) is the Music Director and Conductor of the KSO who, for many years, worked closely with Ms. Murray in the same capacity at the GGP until her retirement. "As a young trumpet player at Aptos, Joan provided the first orchestral experience that helped shape my entire musical path going forward, eventually leading to my conducting career. It was a great pleasure to work with her at the KSO, and particularly of course the GGP, where I am now privileged to lead the organization, and honored to continue her important mission and legacy."
Impact on Students
Her impact across the community has been deeply respected. John Sherba of Kronos Quartet says of Ms. Murray, "Joan was a fearless leader, and she ran a tight ship! GGP values hard work and discipline, qualities which are essential for success in many areas of life. The young people who are part of GGP have a potentially transformative experience in this program under Joan's creative and dedicated leadership."
Lisa Bielawa, award-winning composer, vocalist and past student of Ms. Murray's says, "Joan expected the best of us, believed in the best in us, and we were all eager not only to prove her right in her belief in us, but to become better than we even knew we could be."
Surviving Relatives
Ms Murray is survived by two brothers, John B. Houck of Sun Prairie, a suburb of Madison, WI, and Peter Houck of Avon, CT. A third brother, Philip Houck, died in a 1967 airplane accident, while he, a graduate student and private pilot, was crop-dusting. Steven O'Guin Houck is a half-brother who lives in Jackson, MS. Other surviving family members include cousins Garland Houck Guth of Shreveport, LA, Anne (Dede) Houck Harbin of Montgomery, AL, Charles R. Davis of Palo Alto, CA and Sue J. Davis and Philip Cleaver Davis of Little Rock, AR.
Memorial Service
Ms. Murray's life will be remembered and celebrated on Saturday, January 18, 2025, at 11:00 AM at Lakeside Presbyterian Church, 201 Eucalyptus Drive, San Francisco, CA .
In lieu of flowers, Ms. Murray has requested contributions to The Golden Gate Philharmonic, P.O. Box 170301, San Francisco, CA 94117. Contributions can also be made electronically at the orchestra's website, ggph.org.