Floyd K Murr
4-8-1921 ~ 9-23-2011
Floyd K. Murr passed away on Friday, September 23, 2011. He was 90. He was born on April 8, 1921.
He graduated from the University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1937. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and served in the South Pacific Theater during World War II. He was honorably discharged in 1945 and enrolled at Harvard Law School, where he obtained his Juris Doctor degree in 1948. Admitted to the Colorado Bar in September of 1948, he began practicing law with the late Senator Sam Taylor.
He married Norma Lou Brunelli on June 25, 1949. He later joined Bill Nicolas in a law office in the First National Bank building in Walsenburg where he continued to practice law until 2007. His practice emphasis included water law, real estate, and trusts and estates. He maintained the highest peer rating in the Martindale Hubbell directory most of his career. He served as Vice President of the Colorado Bar Association in 1958-1959, and again in 1980-1981, and also served on various committees including the grievance committee from 1968 to 1971 and again from 1977 to 1980.
He was appointed part time county judge in Huerfano County serving in that capacity from 1970 until 1985. In addition to his dedication to, and passion for, the practice of law, he was a musician. He joined his first dance band playing the trumpet when he was 14 years old. He played trumpet in the University of Colorado marching band under Hugh McMillen and while serving in the South Pacific during World War II. He was also an entertaining piano player and played both trumpet and piano in various dance bands well into his 70s.
He and long time pal Malcolm MacDonald wrote, produced and performed a variety of humorous and more serious tunes for charitable fund raisers for the Lions Club, including a performance attended by 1600 people in 1956 at the Fox Theater in Walsenburg.
An active outdoorsman, he enjoyed fly fishing, jogging, bicycling and skiing. He assisted in establishing a rope tow ski run on La Veta Pass in 1960 where local youth learned to ski.
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Norma Lou, who continues to reside at the family home in Walsenburg, his sons Dr. Peter Murr and Austin Murr, his daughter, Mary Pfau, all of whom live in the greater Denver area, and a grandson, Austin Murr of San Antonio, Texas.
The family plans to honor his request that he be cremated and his ashes spread in the vicinity of the upper Huerfano stream, his favorite fishing spot. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that charitable donations in his name be made to the Sangre de Cristo Hospice South, 711 Walsen Avenue, Suite B, Walsenburg, Colorado, 81089.
