Margaret "Meg" Murray

Meg was born on October 3, 1944, in Bexley, Ohio, but was a frequent visitor as a child to her grandmother’s home in Americus, Georgia, which is where she met her husband, Ronald Murray, to whom she was married for 49 years. A lifelong Presbyterian, she was raised in Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Ohio, and later attended First Presbyterian Church of Columbus, Georgia.

After high school in Bexley, Meg attended Ohio State University. She excelled in college, earning membership in Phi Beta Kappa and receiving B.A. and M.A. degrees. Despite having lost her father in her teens, she continued throughout life to be motivated by him to value education and hard work. Keeping with that, she completed a Ph.D. at Cornell University, studying English romantic and American literature under noted Romantics scholar Meyer H. Abrams. She soon took a teaching position at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. It was in Boston that she reunited with Ron. They married in 1976 and moved to Starkville, Mississippi, where Meg taught English at Mississippi State University for the balance of her career. She was beloved by students, who loved her theatrical teaching style. And she passed the values of education and hard work on to her only daughter, Allie.

During her career as an academic, Meg edited one volume of collected essays, titled Face to Face: Fathers, Mothers, Masters, Monsters, and authored a literary biography of the transcendentalist Margaret Fuller, titled Margaret Fuller: Wandering Pilgrim, the latter of which received the American Library Association's Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title. She served as president of the Northeast Mississippi Graduate Association of Phi Beta Kappa and as president of the Mississippi State University chapter of Phi Kappa Phi.

Meg also was a lifelong letter-writer, corresponding with a wide range of notable people, including the historian Christopher Lasch and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, a cousin of Ron’s. But her engagement with others wasn’t limited to her letter-writing. A natural storyteller, her gregarious personality engaged everyone around her. She often left people she had only just met laughing at her wit.

Among the things Meg loved most were her time at Bexley High School and Cornell, saving stray animals, teaching, and her family. She was predeceased by her parents, Samuel Brown McGavran and Mary Glover McGavran, her cherished brother, Sam Jr. (Sami), and her sister Jane (Tom). She is survived by her older brother, Frank (Bernadette); her husband, Ron; her daughter, Allie and son-in-law, Daniel; and her four grandchildren, Corrina, Ramona, Johanna, and Raphael.

As Meg wrote in a letter to Sam Jr. in the late Sixties when he was serving in Vietnam, “I know I’m corny maybe and unrealistic but so very much I want everything to work out right. So someday when we're all older we can each have our happy homes with big Christmas trees and warm fires in the fireplaces. It's not much—but giving life to the world and watching it grow in happiness, health, and love—that’s all that matters. That's all.”

Meg’s family is forever thankful for Meg’s rich life, the grace of God, and the supportive presence of caretakers in Meg’s final weeks, including especially Barbara Taylor of Visiting Angels and the nurses of Gentiva and Columbus Hospices.

A visitation for family and friends will be held on Wednesday, January 7, 2026 from 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM at First Baptist Church, 212 12th St, Columbus, Georgia 31901. A service honoring Meg's life will also be held at First Baptist Church at 11:00 AM, officiated by Dr. Jimmy Elder. Meg will be laid to rest at Lebanon Cemetery in Plains, Georgia on Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 2:30 PM.