Ardath Murray

Ardath Laverne Murray kept her appointment with heaven on April 30, 2020,  age 91, at Circle of Life Hospice in Bentonville, AR.    Funeral  services will be held Wednesday, May 6 at 10:00 a.m.  at  Arnold Moore &  Neekamp Funeral Home, 710 S. Dewey Ave., Bartlesville, OK.

Ardath was born at Onaga, Kansas to Charles Andrew Crumbaker and Adda “Belle” (Brown) Crumbaker, the eighth child of eleven in a close-knit and hard-working farm family.  She graduated from Wamego, KS High School in 1946 .   After high school graduation, Ardath moved to Manhattan, KS where she held various jobs with Kansas Crop Improvement and Kansas Farm Bureau.

Mutual friends introduced Ardath to Norman Ray Murray, a mechanical engineering student at Kansas State University in 1948 and they were married on October 1, 1950 at Danforth Chapel in Manhattan, KS.  They began their married life in Kansas  City  where Norm was working for Bendix Aviation Corp. Two daughters were born in Kansas City.   In 1955 they moved to Sedan, Kansas (Norm’s home town) where he went into the oil business with his father.  Another daughter and a son were born in Sedan.

In 1961 the family moved to Bartlesville, OK where Norm went to work  for Phillips Petroleum Company in the research and development division and Ardath became involved in church, school, county and state 4-H, Home Extension  and quilting clubs.  In 1962 the Murray family moved to a home west of Bartlesville in O-ge-nel-la Ridge where Ardath would live for nearly fifty years.  She was an organist  and pianist at Oak Park United Methodist Church,  played piano for school programs and participated in school fundraisers for Osage Hills School , cooked for 4-H summer camps at Osage Hills State Park and supervised the kitchen at the Washington County Fair.  In 1971 she received an Oklahoma State 4-H Alumni Recognition Award in Stillwater, OK.  She chaperoned Washington County 4-Hers to The National 4-H Congress in Chicago in December of 1971.  She organized many bus trips for 4-H leaders and home extension members which took her to many parts of the country including Washington D.C., Knoxville, TN, and Williamsburg, VA.

After raising her children,  Ardath applied for intermittent work with Phillips Petroleum Company.  Her first temp assignment was working for Applied Automation, which turned into 18 years of full time employment.  She retired in early 2000 as the secretary to the administrative team.  After her retirement, she continued to volunteer in the Bartlesville community and take many fishing and shopping trips with friends and family to Branson, MO.

She generously invested her time, talents and treasure in her family, friends, neighbors and community.

Her final years were spent near family in Arkansas.  The family would like to thank the many caregivers who gave her such kind and loving care.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband , grandson Zachary Murray, siblings Helen Dent, Frances Moyer, Don, Dale and Evan Crumbaker, Dorothy Shandy,  and Bobbie Peters.

Survivors include three daughters and son-in-laws, Ann (John) DeCoster of Eagan, MN, Janet (Mike) Mitchell of Bella Vista, AR, Martha (Brad) Weeks of College Station, TX and one son and daughter-in-law, Jack (Donna) Murray of Owasso, OK; ten grandchildren and spouses, Shane (Margaret) Murray of Edmond, OK, Neil (Salone) DeCoster of Burnsville, MN, Emily  (Mike) Deziel of Rosemount, MN, Justin Weeks of Round Rock, TX, Sarah Weeks of The Woodlands, TX, Michael (Nikki) Mitchell of Calera, OK, Dianne (Jay) Stumpff of Bartlesville, OK, Crystal (Daniel) Scott of Stillwater, OK , Pam (Jeremy) Butler of Dill City, OK and Cari Henley of Owasso, OK; eleven great grandchildren, Grady and Emma Murray, Landon, Tessa and Jack Deziel, Trey and Christi Stumpff, Bryce Butler, Cayden Henley,  Easton and Christian DeCoster, and  sisters Nada McCool, Carol Adolph and Marge Knorr.

Memorial contributions are suggested to: The Oklahoma 4-H Foundation, 205 4-H Youth Development Building, Stillwater, OK   74075