I spent my entire life in Greenwood and was better for it. My parents were John and Pearl Murray. Dad was a hometown boy who grew up on a farm off of the North South Road. My mother’s family was from around the Keuka Lake area; she was a Northrup. Her sister, Cassie, lived in Greenwood and Mom and Dad met when Dad was traveling around as a jockey racing horses at county fairs. Dad will tell his story later; there is some plummy stuff too. They got married and settled in Greenwood on the original of what is now referred to as The Murray Farm on Dryden Road. I was born on February 8 of 1913. I had a sister, Pauline, but you can hear more about her later too.
We bought and moved to The Murray Farm at the top of what became Murray Hill in 1915. As a young child, along with all the kids from the surrounding farms, I attended a grade school down across from The Poplars, near the entrance to The O’Dell Farm on Schoolhouse Hill. Later, when the schoolhouse was no longer in use, we moved it and used it as a garage at our farm. It is still there today. Take a drive by and check it out.
We raised dairy cows, and sold our milk; as well as buckwheat, corn, hay and oats for the cattle. When I was old enough to handle a horse and wagon, it was my job to take the milk down Murray Hill to a wooden platform that used to sit in Christian Hollow. The driver for the processing plant in Whitesville would pick it up from there.
Now, my dad didn’t know this at the time; but, a buddy of mine from Rexville would meet me after I unloaded the milk and we would race to school, straight down Main Street. You see, the Greenwood School used to sit where the town barns are now. That meant we flew by Lippert’s Store at full speed. One day, Bill Lippert saw my dad downtown and asked him if he knew what we were doing. Dad said, “No,” but had a question for Mr. Lippert, “Who was winning?” Mr. Lippert stumbled a bit, not understanding the purpose for such a question, but answered, “Well, your son.” My dad laughed and responded, “That’s good, now I don’t have to buy him a new horse.” I am sure Mr. Lippert was not as pleased as Dad.
Now, I already had another horse, you see. Her name was Daisy. She was blind. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t gallop on down the road. Boy, could she fly… (wink) but, just for me though. Not for Dad. And, as much as Dad loved jockeying horses, Daisy would not give him a chance.
While I was in high school, my buddy, Johnny Redman, and I found some loose wires under the stairs that controlled the school bell. When we kids wanted to get out of class, he or I would drop a screw or nail down on those wires and the bell would just keep on a ringin’. The principal would ask my buddy and me to try and figure out how to stop it. We looked busy for a while, letting that bell ring and ring until the kids got to leave school and then casually remove the nail… until the next time it was just too pretty a day to be in school.
Something happened at Greenwood School around the time I was a senior. All the kids stopped coming. But, ohhhh, not me. My dad said I had to finish school and I did. I was the Valedictorian of my class and the Homecoming Queen. (ha, ha). Stanley Murray, the only graduate of Greenwood School in 1931.
The next year, I attended college at Alfred Ag Tech. I lived in the dorms there. I learned about and fell in love with flowers. I even had time to work at my drawings. You see, I was pretty good for an amateur artist. And, along with the other fellas, we even had time to go bobsledding that winter. There were lots of girls bobsledding, college girls and high school girls. The college girls had to be in by 10. But, those high school girls didn’t; they could stay out until midnight. While I wasn’t as keen as they were (twinkle and smile), me and the fellas did too.
It was about this time that I realized that I didn’t want to be a full-time farmer. So, I went to work at JE Armstrong’s Filling Station downtown. You know, it was where the firehouse sits now. We also bought the Carr farm up next to our farm…still straddling that fence.
One day while I was working, I happened to see this striking young woman walk by and right then and there, I said, “I’m going to marry that girl.” I will let her share some about that and so will I, next time.
Return for Part 2 of 4: Sweet Bird of Youth.