Dan Murray: 1958-2009

Dan Murray died over the weekend.

I met Dan just a few days after I moved to Oregon: he was my escort when I went behind the fence at Hillcrest OYA then. In those days Dan was just stepping up to union activism and had pulled some discipline for this. He had a wry and understated sense of humor and he used to give me a slightly off-center stare that told me that he understood so much that I didn't when I would try to nudge him to take on more union work.

Dan stepped up a lot over the years. A great union organizer reminded me that there were many years where he was the only union member at Hillcrest who would stand in solidarity with his coworkers and with the youth there. Hillcrest has been one of the worst worksites at OYA. Through thick and thin, and when others walked away out of fear and frustration, Dan had the courage and strength to stand up for the people around him--staff and youth alike. I used to kid him about being the patron saint of lost causes.

And it did take courage and strength. OYA had corrupt administrators and was being run by people who were mainly interested in fatter paychecks and coasting to retirement. Staff and kids who broke the rules most often fell into a discipline-and-punish system that made OYA ever-more dysfunctional. The ever-present racism, sexism and classism locked OYA administrators, staff and youth into a violent triangle. Dan was visibly moved by what he saw around him, rose above the stupidity and violence inherent in the system and usually stayed focused on organizing for change and good goals.

Dan's efforts paid off. OYA has been forced to clean up, some of the worst bosses and abusers there are gone and the union at OYA is on good footing. Dan did much of the heavy lifting that led to those changes. Issues he highlighted years ago came to the fore last year and Dan was vindicated.

Dan had a family that he loved. He worked hard, had a small business on the side and played some sports. I don't know what his politics were, but he called me "comrade" and kept up a friendship with me when my politics and my appearance probably riled most OYA workers. He was honest, he had a big heart and he embodied some of the best union values a person can.

Workers like Dan never get the recognition they deserve while living in a capitalist society. Working class cemeteries are full of graves, marked and unmarked, of our forgotten heroes, givers and comrades. They are our history, written large for us but always in lower case for the bosses. Dan is one of those heroes and givers.

It's hard to accept that I won't feel Dan's crushing handshake or his embrace again, that I won't see him debating issues for hours after a union meeting in the union's parking lot, that I can no longer depend on his wry pessimism and his willingness to struggle for a bit more justice. We need to build our unions and our left with Dan's example and with people like him.

There will be a service held for Dan Murray at St. Edward's Church at 1:00 PM this Thursday (5303 River Road N. in Keizer). The service will be followed by a celebration of his life at the Keizer Elk's club at 2:30 PM (4250 Cherry Avenue NE).