The James V. Murray '65 Memorial Scholarship

(One $1,000 award annually) The James V. Murray ’65 Memorial Scholarship will be awarded to a junior majoring in one of the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) majors with at least a 3.3 GPA. Preference is for a student also minoring in middle or secondary education. The qualified candidate should be goal-oriented, have demonstrated financial need and shown leadership on-campus. The scholarship will follow the recipient from the time it is awarded through the completion of the recipient’s baccalaureate degree as long as the recipient remains a full time student in good standing.

The late James “Jim” Vincent Murray Sr. ’65 was one of those teachers who made learning fun, according to his daughter, Jamie Armin, M.Ed. ’87. During his long career in education, he taught science at the former Chandler Street Junior High School and Forest Grove Middle School in Worcester.
“He always wanted to be a teacher, and he was good at it,” says Jamie. “He liked the kids he taught, and they could sense that. He made it fun in the classroom because he just loved what he did.”
Out of the classroom, Jim was known as a fun-loving guy, the life of the party, whose positive outlook and love of storytelling made others want to be around him. In summers he enjoyed supervising the neighborhood kids—as well as his own six children—at the family’s backyard pool, sending the non-residents home at dinner time. After retirement, Jim drove a school bus for many years for the Worcester Public Schools, keeping a connection to the city’s youth that he enjoyed and valued.
Before becoming an educator, Jim served in the National Guard and was a captain for the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department at the old Summer Street Jail in Worcester. But he always knew teaching was his true calling and worked hard to get his teaching degree at Worcester State, juggling classes with his full-time job and a growing family with the help of his wife of 58 years, Rose.
He was an ardent cheerleader for Worcester State and always encouraged family members to consider it as an educational option. Two of his brothers are alumni (his oldest brother, Jack, went on to teach as a full professor at Framingham State) as well as three of his children—in addition to Jamie, sons John and Jim received undergraduate degrees.
When Jim passed away in March 2019 at age 80 due to the rapid decline from Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, his family knew a scholarship in his name would be the perfect way to keep his memory alive.
“We all worked part time jobs to put ourselves through school, so we know how important scholarships can be,” says Jamie. “Worcester State was a big part of our lives. We are all very successful, and Worcester State definitely played a role.”
Jim was an active member of the Education Association of Worcester and a CCD Teacher for many years at St. Brigid Church, Millbury. He loved playing and competing in handball, softball and judo in his younger years. He loved skating & passing the puck at the pond and at the local rinks with his children, tossing the football around and carrying on his parents love of gardening by planting his own summer vegetable garden. He was an avid Boston sports fan, especially for the Boston Bruins