Thomas Robert "Whitey" Murray - Obituary

homas R. “Whitey” Murray, 85, of Germantown, MD died on Sunday, December 18 at Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, MD. Born on November 5, 1937 in Washington, DC, Tom was very active in sports. He attended St. Francis Xavier elementary school where he enjoyed the camaraderie at the Buckley Club and where he met Rosemary Monte. Tom graduated from Gonzaga High School where he played baseball, was the quarterback on the football team and continued dating Rosemary. After graduating he served in the US Air Force and married Rosemary in 1957. They had 6 kids in eleven years and he eagerly attended many school and sporting activities for all of his children. In the late 1960’s, after working for a period of time in the carpet business, Thomas decided that he did not want to work for anyone else so he decided to take a risk and open his own retail carpet business. He was tenacious at developing business relationships in the custom home building sector, as well as the interior design community. His extreme focus and professional quality work and integrity led him to be awarded several contracts with the US State Department. As a result, he had several international projects, three of which led to extensive travel to carpet the US Embassies in Russia and Sudan. In his spare time, Tom enjoyed hunting, fishing, playing tennis and gardening. He was a volunteer at St. Martin’s Soup Kitchen for many years and he competed in the Senior Olympics where he placed in 5 events. Tom enjoyed each and every one of his children and was most happy when they were all gathered together at the dinner table. He will certainly be missed and remembered for his intelligence, sense of humor and grit. His many one-on-one relationships will be forever etched in our hearts. Tom is survived by his wife of 65 years, Rosemary Murray; his children, Robert, Danny, Tommy and Kristin Murray and Patty Burke; his sister, Suzan Stafford; his grandchildren, TJ, Christopher, Christina, Chrissy, Kelly, Kara and Ashley and his great-grandchildren, Karlee, Violet, King, Milleigh, Susanna, Joey and Braxton. He was preceded in death by his son, Stephen Murray and his granddaughter, Aleshia. Friends are invited to celebrate Tom's life at the Kalas Funeral Home & Crematory, 2973 Solomons Island Rd., Edgewater, MD on Monday, December 26 from 12 noon until his memorial service begins at 1 pm. Condolences may be made by using the Memories tab on this page.