Obituary for Alice C. Murray Alice C. Murray, 102, of West Branch, Iowa, formerly of Kingsley, Iowa, passed away on Thursday, May 29, 2014 at the Crestview Nursing and Rehab Center in West Branch. Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at St. Michael Catholic Church in Kingsley, Iowa. Father Mark Stoll will celebrate Mass. Burial will follow at St. Michael Catholic Cemetery in Kingsley. Visitation will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, June 2, 2014 at the Johnson –Earnest Funeral Home in Kingsley with the family present from 5-7 p.m. to greet friends. There will also be one hour of visitation on Tuesday at the church prior to Mass.

Alice Catherine Kenaley was born November 10, 1911, near Danbury, Iowa, the oldest of nine children of Joseph Leo Kenaley and Josephine (Sullivan) Kenaley. The family later lived on farms near Ticonic, Oto, Mapleton, and Le Mars, Iowa.

Growing up on farms and attending rural schools, Alice worked hard and found pleasure in nature and farm animals. Among the worst tasks were operating the manual washing machine with a foot pedal, and later trying to start the gasoline engine powering an early-model Maytag. She said, "You could pull the rope for half an hour, even after cleaning the spark plug."

Much more fun was crossing a creek and roaming though the woods, finding wildflowers in the spring or picking black raspberries and gooseberries in summer. Several animals were special to her, but often the relationships did not last long. Patches, her favorite pony, belonged to a landlord and had to be left behind; her dad sold the team of Bess and Fly for $40; Sally the pig went the way of all farm pigs. But the memory of them lasted more than 90 years.
Alice attended school through the 10th grade, but her schooling ended there for two reasons. The children were attending a Catholic school that required tuition payments, which were difficult for the family. And her parents decided she, the oldest, should help at home with the younger children and the field work. All her brothers and sisters did finish high school. Alice regretted not being able to finish school and said she had hoped to be a nurse.
In her twenties she answered a newspaper ad for a housekeeping job in Sioux City. She worked for the Weinberg family, owners of a clothing store, making $5 per week, later increased to $6. She often sent a dollar a week to a sister at home, and occasionally sent $5 to her brother Gerald, a student at the University of Iowa; according to a letter he sent thanking her in 1938. "Don't spend all your money on me," he said.

She and other working girls had Thursday afternoons off, and they often went to Kresge's dime store for lunch. Saturday night was dance night so Alice and her friends went to Shore Acres Ballroom or one of the other dance halls. At one of the dances, she met Allan Murray of Kingsley. When she married Allan in 1941, she had saved enough money to buy her wedding dress and dresses for her mother and the bridesmaid, her sister Rita. In the early years of their marriage they lived in Sioux City, where their children were born; they moved to Allan's family farm near Kingsley in 1950.

On the quarter-section farm Alice raised chickens, sold eggs, planted a big garden, and helped with other chores. A range that burned coal or corncobs heated the kitchen; the rest of the house had a gas stove. There were winter days before the family had a clothes dryer when Alice put the washed laundry for the family of six on the clothesline outside until it froze stiff, then brought it in and put it over the stair railing and chairs to thaw and finish drying. At least the electric washer did not have to be started with a rope.

During several summers in the 1950s, the family vacationed at what seemed exotic locations at the time: Lake Okoboji, the Black Hills, and the ranch of Allan's cousin Emmett Dugan in northwestern South Dakota.
Alice had her 10th grade education and Allan had gone to country school through 8th grade and taken a two-year business course at Trinity College in Sioux City. But they saw that all four of their children graduated from college.
Allan began renting out the farmland in 1967. He and Alice lived on the farm until 1987, when they moved to Le Mars. Allan died in 1994. Alice moved to Iowa City in 2002 to be near her daughter Louise and husband Ed, then to the Crestview nursing home in nearby West Branch in 2011.

In her later years when she could still travel, Alice took several trips with her children. She had always wanted to see the ocean and was able to travel to California; she visited the Seattle area several times. She took great interest in her grandchildren and enjoyed their visits. She was especially thrilled to welcome her two great-grandchildren.
Throughout her life Alice was faithful to, and supported by, her Catholic religion.

Her children are Tom Murray (wife Molly Fifield-Murray), Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, Marjorie Murray (husband Rob Gertler), Seattle, Washington, Linda Murray, St Louis, Missouri and Louise Murray (husband Ed Heffron), Iowa City, Iowa and an infant son, Timothy, who died in 1950; grandchildren, Sarah Murray (husband Chris Barncard) of Madison, Wisconsin, Kelly Murray (partner Patty Sandoval) of Madison, Wisconsin, David Gertler, San Francisco, California and Jeffrey Gertler, Seattle, Washington; great-grandchildren, Vida Catherine and Thomas John; two brothers, Gerald and Don and three sisters, Louise Kidd, Rose Krogh and Rita Starzl, preceded her in death. Surviving are her brother, Bob (wife Ruth) of Le Mars, Iowa; sisters, Bonnie Ruden, Le Mars, Iowa and Bette Kennaley, Sioux City, Iowa.

Memorials may be directed to: Crisis Center of Johnson County, 1121 S Gilbert Ct, Iowa City, IA 52240

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