Beverlee Zollinger Murray

Beverlee Zollinger Murray slipped peacefully and gracefully from this life to be reunited with her “Puppa” Lee, mother Wilma & sister Sal on Thursday evening June 15, 2017. She left this life as she lived it – with grit, dignity, grace and without complaint.

Sadie, Mom, Big Bev, Ma Bev raised five children to know what love is, and to embrace all who crossed their path.  She was possessed of charity and shared her life, her home, her garden, her horse pasture, her time and her possessions with all within the reach of her influence. She was a gatherer of strays: stray cats, stray children, and stray gardeners.  She was a simple woman but deeply rooted in faith and lived unfettered by worldly possessions.

Bev's legendary toughness extended to all aspects of her life including getting teeth drilled & pulled without any anesthesia, undergoing multiple surgeries and enduring pain but never uttering a single word of complaint.

Bev grew up ranching all summer in Mackay, Idaho and going to school in Providence, Utah each winter.  She and her sister Leah (Sal) were the most beautiful hay crew teamsters in central Idaho, surviving run away horse teams, and the dangers of a working cattle ranch as she “made hay while the sun shined”.   Her soft spots were cats and horses and kids.  She was good and kind.  If animals can see your soul, it explains why they loved her so much.

She learned the value of hard work and good fun without the benefit of modern conveniences, growing up taking turns bathing in a tin tub in the ranch house kitchen that was filled with stream water heated on a wood burning stove (you were lucky if you got to go first). She passed on her determination to her children and grandchildren through Bev's summer work camps where she taught the value of hard work, blended with typing skills, the occasional short-hand lesson and reading books.  She preached the gospel of Jesus Christ daily, and sometimes used words to do so.

She loved the land and grew the best raspberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash the earth could produce. She grew up close to mother earth & loving the outdoors – gardening, planting, playing tennis, and skiing in the winter which led her to serving on the Utah State Parks and Recreation Board.  She dutifully stood on the ski hill for endless hours watching her kids ski race and organized gate keepers and drove car loads of neighborhood racers to the ski hill and was the ski team’s chief publicist.  She was perhaps the best car pool driver in state history.  

Everyone thought they were Bev’s favorite because she was so good at recognizing talents and building on them. She was a nurturer and possessed a gentle soul, but a fiery temper. She could use cowboy language as easily and fluidly as she could share scripture and eternal truth. She loved with a depth and breadth that would take one’s breath away.

We fondly refer to Bev as Big Bev not because of her physical stature, but because of her huge heart that was large enough to include immigrants, refugees, and foreign exchange students whom she invited into her home from all circumstances around the world – Vietnam, Philippines, Japan, Columbia & Israel along with one local loveable renegade.  She loved them all.

Perhaps her most defining characteristic was her undying support and loyalty to her husband and family whom she followed through South Carolina, Nevada, Utah, Massachusetts, Tennessee, California and back to Utah first in the military, then in a business career which led to 11 moves in 10 years while having and raising children.  She finally settled down in Utah where Bev got to sink roots deep into the soil she loved, built a home, and enjoyed the remainder of her days in Bountiful.  

Bev was born June 2, 1930 in Logan, Utah. She was the daughter of Lee Zollinger and Wilma Whitney who preceded her in death along with her sister Leah (Sal) Spraktes. Bev was a proud graduate of South Cache High School and Utah State University and was a member of the Kappa Delta Sorority. She was in student government through high school & college, loved to dance and joined a modern dance club, a talent she taught both daughters.  She was active in the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, and her beloved church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She is survived by her husband Robert B Murray; her children,  Holly Weston (Burdette) Laketown, UT, R. Pepper Murray (Rachelle) Bountiful, UT, R. Taz Murray (Tamera) Provo, UT, Timothy Z. Murray (Tracy) Evergreen, CO, Robin McClellan (Clark) Vernal, UT. Her twenty one grandchildren and twenty four great grandchildren knew what love is, for she embraced and epitomized this characteristic.

She loved and lived simply.  She forgave and moved on.  We will miss her.  

A viewing will be held at Russon Mortuary, 295 North Main St. Bountiful, Utah on Thursday, June 22nd, from 6-8pm. Funeral services will be held at the Canyon Park Ward on Friday, June 23rd beginning at 11am (1190 East Bountiful Hills Drive, Bountiful). A viewing will precede the services there from 9:30-10:30 am. Online guest book at www.russonmortuary.com.
In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be sent to Humanitarian Services, c/o LDS Philanthropies, 1450 N. University Ave., Provo, UT 84604, or on line at ldsphilanthropies.org, designate humanitarian aid.