In Memory of Ann Corrigan Murray, 1941-2006

Ann Murray, a long time friend and advocate for youth and adults with learning disabilities passed away on April 10, 2006 following complications from leukemia originally diagnosed in 1999. Ann had been a tireless volunteer with the Learning Disabilities Association’s Washtenaw Chapter for many years and was active in the Michigan LDA until her illness forced her to withdraw.

Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Ann attended colleges in Virginia and Ohio. She received a Masters’ degree in Rehabilitation Counseling and Sociology from Kent State University, and was a lifelong learner, accumulating numerous additional hours of training beyond her degrees.

She worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the Michigan Jobs Commission for 33 years. Often, her role was to help young adults prepare presentations for interviews with employers, choose a career direction, and select school programs that would give them marketable vocational skills. Even after retirement in 1997, she carried on with her work as a private consultant. She remained a part of the Washtenaw Community Transition Council, and the transition training partnership and training teams.

The Learning Disabilities Association (LDA), Washtenaw County Chapter recognized her work during Learning Disabilities month in October 1999. Ann’s career and volunteer work complemented each other, making her an asset to local efforts on behalf of people with learning disabilities.

For most of her career, she was the youth liaison for special education programs in Washtenaw County, particularly working with high school youth as they graduated and moved on to school or work. Initially she worked with every high school special education teacher in the county. Ann first joined LDA to learn more about how learning disabilities impacted people in the world of work.

“I have been so moved by the parents and young people that I have come to know and work with”, she told other LDA members. “Helping them to find the right job, not just as a ‘burger flipper’ was the greatest challenge...and fun!”

With LDA she was a part of many of its volunteer committees, starting with the quarterly mailing of nearly 1000 newsletters. Ann also served as secretary, program chair, membership chair, and president--each for several years. She became a member of the state board of LDA as a result of her Washtenaw Chapter presidency, and continued as a
member-at-large, later serving as secretary, and as coordinator of 65 volunteers as they planned and hosted the Michigan Learning Disabilities Association annual conference. “I had no idea what a job I had taken on,” she laughingly recalled.

Volunteering for the Washtenaw Chapter, she accompanied eight young adults in an LDA-sponsored friendship group on the train to Chicago, and participated in many of their meetings and picnics. Because she was interested in young people making good transition plans for themselves, she felt that this was a good place to spend her time.

Later, when Ann reminisced about the group, she said, “The support and caring that these young people provide to each other is amazing. It was a thrill for me to observe the leadership skills of one young lady who had been a client of mine at one time. I had helped her to find employment. She was organizing a social activity for the group, but I
remember her as very shy and quiet. Her assertiveness and confidence had grown with the support of this young adult group.”

Ann presented and organized a number of programs for the Washtenaw LDA, and shared responsibility for their phone line for about six years along with the late Alice Warshaw. Ann carried on with providing a listening ear for parents giving them information about resources in the community to help with some of the difficulties associated with learning disabilities. She referred parents to physicians, tutors, advocates, support groups, and other LDA services.

Ann was well known for her ever-present smile, bright red hair, and her joy in working with young people. She served on the boards of many public service organizations during her career and following her retirement including Michigan Rehabilitation Association, Hospice of Washtenaw, and the state and local chapters of the Learning Disabilities Association (LDA). In addition, she was an advisory board member of the Ann Arbor Academy, and a member of Ann Arbor Human Resources Forum. Ann contributed endless hours of work in support of these causes, with enthusiasm and dedication.

She is survived by her husband Daniel J. Murray, her son Michael P. Murray and his wife Kathryn Murray and granddaughter Addison Grace Murray. A funeral mass will be held at St. Thomas Church in Ann Arbor on Friday, June 16 at 10:00 a.m. At Ann’s request, she has been cremated and her ashes will be interred at Forest Hill Cemetery. Harary Memorial Fund (for tutoring students with reading disabilities) c/o Art Schuman, 3960 Penberton, Ann Arbor, MI 48105.