Barbara Lee
San Leandro Resident Daisy Murray, 104, Honored
U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives on Monday to honor Mrs. Daisy Murray, a San Leandro resident, upon her 104th birthday.
By Barbara Lee
U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives on Monday to honor Mrs. Daisy Murray, a San Leandro resident, upon her 104th birthday. Below is the text of that speech.
“Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 104th birthday of San Leandro resident Mrs. Daisy Murray and recognize her decades of contributions in the East Bay community.
Mrs. Murray was born on April 11, 1918, in Georgia to a family that was only a few generations removed from slavery, as her grandmother was the daughter of an enslaved person. Mrs. Murray’s parents faced racism and violence living in the South, and when they got married, they relocated to Ohio, where Mrs. Murray was born and raised.
Mrs. Murray moved to California in 1945 with her husband and children, eventually settling in the East Bay. She worked tirelessly for her family and community. She raised six children, three boys and three girls, and worked in many volunteer and paid positions, including at the Oakland Post Office, the American Red Cross, the Del Monte Cannery, the old Richmond Hospital, and the Veteran’s Hospital in Oakland. She became a nurse while working at the VA Hospital.
Mrs. Murray also taught a literacy program for the City of San Leandro, and was a member of the Pacific Plaza Homeowners Association Board of Directors.
Her husband, Rev. C. L. Murray, was a pastor at the North Oakland Baptist Church.
Mrs. Murray continued to face discrimination and racism in California, even experiencing patients who refused to let her care for them. However, she persevered and continued to contribute to her community.
Mrs. Murray, along with Dorothy Pitts and other affordable housing visionaries were responsible in large part for founding the first affordable residency for adults and seniors in the country owned and built by minority women, completed in 1974 and named Sojourner Truth Manor. Located on Martin Luther King Jr, Way, the affordable apartment complex still exists to this day and has housed generations of adults and seniors in need.
On behalf of the 13th Congressional District of California, I’m delighted to join Mrs. Daisy Murray’s family and friends to wish her the happiest of birthdays. Thank you, Mrs. Murray for your many good works and everything you have done to enrich San Leandro and our entire East Bay community.
This report was provided by Alex Katz, the district communications manager in the Office of Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
