Peter Murrell ’74

Comments

• 2016-04-01 08:00:18

  Eric Guttag '74

  I just came across this notice.  How very, very sad.  I remember Peter well from our early years at Carleton, especially when we used to play touch football on the street that first winter our freshman year.   Just heartbreaking to hear of his passing.

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• 2022-12-09 16:58:20

  Paul Epton, on behalf of Michael Boylan

  MIchael Boylan sent in this tribute and poem; the poem dates back to Peter's passing, but both arrived at Carleton in Dec, 2022
  __________________

  Carleton Memories

  I was a roommate with Peter for our freshman and sophomore years at Carleton: 1970-71 and 1971-72. We were good friends. We ate dinner each night together for those two years and then occasionally after that. We had bunk beds and went to sleep at the same time each night, chatting before we dozed off. Peter took the top bunk and I took the lower bunk.

  We often studied together. When I started teaching at Marquette University in Milwaukee (Peter's home town) we regularly went running together--sometimes with Peter's brother. I once played on the faculty basketball team with Peter when he briefly taught high school before moving on to college teaching. Peter was one of my two groomsmen at my wedding.

  Peter was a serious man with big ideas in the philosophy of education which he put into effect in various venues. He was founding Dean of Education at Loyola University in Baltimore. His successor said this about him, "Peter was a trailblazer when it came to urban education and was widely respected across the country. He was a giant in his field and known all over," said Joshua Smith, who succeeded Dr. Murrell in 2011 as dean of the School of Education.

  But though Peter was a serious man concerned to make the world a better place to live, he also had a great sense of humor and a smile that showed warmth and acceptance. He died at the young age of 63 of pancreatic cancer. It was a terrible loss. Further details of his life can be found: www.baltimoresun.com/obituaries/bs-md-ob-peter-murrell-20...
  -Michael Boylan

  Carleton Memories

  Remembering Peter C. Murrell, Jr. (A Poem)

  We were roommates for two years.
  We ate dinner together virtually every night.
  We made it through the harsh
  Northfield, Minnesota winters together.
  You knew more music than I did.
  We used to play the game: name that tune,
  When we were in our bunk beds listening to the radio
  You were on top, and I was on the bottom.
  When you named the tune first,
  I used to kick up at the springs that
  Held your mattress in place.
  We spent a lot of hours doing that.
  We both played on the freshman basketball team.
  We both ran together until I left Milwaukee in 1985.
  We hitch hiked from Minnesota to Milwaukee in 1970
  Because it was Thanksgiving. Your dad gave us what-for!
  I knew your brother, sister, mother, and father.
  I saw “Apollo Village” that your father raised money for.
  Always doing good—always moving ahead—
  That was the Murrell way.
  We both were for McGovern. A lost cause,
  But one worth fighting for. You were like
  St. Jude, fighting for causes that seemed hopeless
  To most. But to you, it gave you your game.
  When I lived in Milwaukee we ran regularly together.
  I played in a pick-up basketball game at the school
  You were teaching at. I was one block off N. Capitol Drive,
  On the West Side. Your parents were on the same street on the East Side.
  When I moved to the Washington, D.C. area,
  We fell out of touch. I regret that.
  The last time we talked was a decade ago.
  It was as if we were in a time warp.
  So, it struck me when I suddenly thought of you today
  And looked you up on the Internet.

  I read about your passing. It grieved me to the core.
  Your life made a very positive difference to the world.
  Peace to you, Peter C. Murrell, Jr.: my friend and former roommate.
  -Michael Boylan

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