John Campbell Murray

John had a long, varied, and interesting life. People found that he was a person with whom they could talk on a variety of topics. In conversations he would entertain people with his many fascinating stories.

John was born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland. His early childhood (6 – 12 years) was spent growing up during WWII. It was a time of fear, adventure, and history. Post-war his father had a plumbing shop which enabled John to apprentice and become a plumber. Later he became a tradesman in the mechanical trades. He, his parents, as well as his older brother and his wife came to Canada in the early 1950’s. John arrived in Quebec in November 1952. He worked in a variety of places in Canada for several years then became a Canadian citizen in September 1960.

Soon after, in 1960, he married his first wife Val Marshall, a nurse who had come from Australia. They raised their two children while travelling and living in various countries and continents. For example: USA, Venezuela, and Southern Rhodesia (now: Zimbabwe). Their children, son Allen and his wife Fiona had two children and live in Calgary, and their daughter Sandra and her husband Stephen live in South Carolina, USA.

Later he met and married Jean Harper a Canadian nurse. They had a daughter, Heather, and the family moved to an acreage east of Edmonton. John proceeded to develop their property including building a permanent home. Now Heather and Tim reside in Red Deer where they are raising their two young daughters. John’s children and their accomplishments were a source of pride to him.

During his work life, John, had through experience and various courses worked his way from being “on the tools” to management positions. He was a construction manager on such sites as: ammonia/fertiliser plants, pulp mills, and petrochemical plants. In the 1980’s John was the Construction Manager and Shell’s first representative on the Scotford Complex near Fort Saskatchewan. During his time working there he came up with the idea and design for the turn buckles on the light standards in Fort Saskatchewan. Their purpose was to swing the traffic lights out of the way when the large, prefabricated units were being driven through the city to the plant site. His idea came from an incident that occurred when he worked in Africa. In his various work experiences, he was good at problem solving and was able to come up with creative solutions.

Besides working on the acreage, John found time to get involved in Alberta’s provincial politics. He cared about people, and he did his best to challenge the status quo. He ran for the position of President of the Alberta Liberal Party, and in 2012 he was the Liberal candidate for the Sherwood Park – Strathcona constituency. In addition, the areas of health and energy were of key interest to him. As well as working on innovative designs for energy saving devices, he became involved in a community-initiated health committee in Tofield.

Whatever the situation John liked to socialise and kibitz with people. Occasionally he liked to pull a prank such as, after work ordering a pitcher of beer and a batch of straws for his co-workers. He was a person with a quick wit. At a construction meeting he was told, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, to which he replied, “I wasn’t pushing that job”.

John enjoyed travelling and his work took him to many different countries. He often said that he had been in twenty-six (26) countries but always considered Canada to be the best one in which to live.

Unfortunately, these past two (2) years of constrained activity and his declining health deprived him of the opportunity to socialise with family and friends. However, he enjoyed a life filled with rich and diverse experiences and left us with abundant and precious memories.