Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 2, 1995                   TAG: 9504150004
SECTION: HOTEL ROANOKE                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MOTHER AND SON FOUND SPECIAL TIMES AT HOTEL

It also was fitting that Murray, in turn, helped the hotel in its special hour of need.

Murray, 79, has a son, Steve, 50, who is mentally disabled. In 1956, she wrote a book about him and about her struggle in raising him at a time when there wasn't much information available about the subject.

The book, titled "This Is Stevie's Story: A Mother's Story of Her Mentally Retarded Son," was the first book of its kind written from a parent's perspective. It remained in print for 20 years.

It also helped Murray become a kind of informal counselor to other parents in similar situations. Often, she met with them in the lobby of the hotel, and remains grateful to the hotel for never driving her out.

Murray was equally active in organizing numerous conferences and workshops at the hotel as a volunteer for the Association for Retarded Citizens.

So, it seemed appropriate that her son - who plays violin and who still lives with her - got to perform once at the hotel, at a neighbor's wedding reception.

She hopes now he gets a chance to play there again. For that, she said, her $500 donation to Renew Roanoke was worth every penny. "That was one of the happiest times we ever had there."