Donald Mcmurry

Donald Ewing McMurry, 76 passed away on May 7, 2022 after an extensive period of health challenges.  He was born in Alamogordo, NM to Finis Ewing and Kathryn Lois (McKinley) McMurry.  He grew up in a large extended family in Alamogordo where he was the second youngest of thirteen children.

Don graduated from Alamogordo High School in 1964 and studied physics at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM before joining the US Navy in 1966.  He was very proud of the seven years he spent in the Navy where he was a nuclear reactor operator aboard the USS Sunfish.

During high school Don worked at a gas station, an upholstery shop and on the small farm at home.  He planted and harvested a field of cotton to pay for the trumpet he played in the concert and marching bands.  After the Navy, Don worked with radar systems at White Sands Missile Range and took more classes at NMSU.  He married in 1978 and moved to Fort Collins, CO where he worked for Xerox corporation.  In 1984 he accepted a position as an electronics technician at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  After several years, he retired early from LANL to work with Fuel Cell Technologies, a small company started by a co-worker at LANL, Chuck Derouin.  He retired from FCT in early 2020 due to health challenges.  In the past, Don was a member of the American Legion and while living on Thompson Ridge in the Jemez Mountains he was a member of the La Cueva Volunteer Fire Dept.

Don enjoyed traveling and stepped foot on every continent except Africa, mostly for his work with FCT.  He also enjoyed dancing, 4-wheeling, playing pool, playing cards – especially pinocle, and spending time with his family at home and at family reunions.  He was happy to be able to attend a couple of submarine reunions and reconnect with some of his shipmates.  He enjoyed music and in particular loved the Moody Blues.  Whenever possible he would travel to see them in concert.  He volunteered to chaperone many of his son’s activities.  During Covid isolation, Don spent the majority of his time reading, keeping up with the news and Facebook, taking an occasional drive to the Jemez to look at the deer and elk and recently organizing his coin collections and trading coins online.

Don is survived by his wife of 44 years, Kim McMurry, his sons Robbie, Josh (Jennifer Price) and Luke McMurry, his grandson Caspian McMurry-Marken and Caspian’s mom Holly Marken, his sisters Martha Nolen, Margaret (Ted) Swanson, and Kathy Kicklighter as well as numerous nieces and nephews.  He was preceded in death by his mom and dad and numerous siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.  We will miss Don dearly.  He loved and was loved deeply.  He will forever be in our hearts and in our memories to keep us smiling.

The family would like to thank Dr. M. Kamel Abouda and Dr. David Mills for their excellent personal as well as professional care for the last several years.  The McMurry family has entrusted their loved one to the care of Rivera Family Funeral Home and Crematory to direct the funeral services at their chapel in Espanola, NM on June 8, 2022 at 10:00 am.  In lieu of sending flowers, the family suggests donations to victims of the recent fires in NM, victims of the war in the Ukraine, your favorite charity or listening to a Moody Blues song.