Barbara Murray

Barbara E. Murray, age 86 of Wayne, died peacefully on Saturday, October 16, 2021. She had been a resident of Packanack Lake since 1962.

Barbara was born in Jersey City and raised in Union City, NJ.  She graduated from Emerson High School in Union City with the class of 1953. When she was young, Barbara began training to be a gymnast, which culminated in her attending the Olympic trials in Chicago in advance of the 1956 Summer Olympics, and propelled her to a life long love of athletics.

After the Olympic trials Barbara met her future husband, Hubert, at Mass on Holy Saturday in Ridgefield.  He only lived around the block from the church, but he asked Barbara for a ride home. Soon thereafter he visited one of her gymnastics events and her competitive nature won him over.  They went dancing on one of their early dates and their mutual love of dancing persisted throughout their lives together.  Their presence on the dance floor at every wedding and social event was as consistent as the presence of flocks of geese flying south for the winter.

Barbara and Hubert were married for 56 years before Hubert’s passing in 2015.  They had four children, Robert, Thomas, Donald and Charissa.  Barbara shared Hubert’s love of travel, whether visiting her son Robert and his family when they lived in Europe, or visiting Hubert’s relatives in Ireland, or making an annual late winter pilgrimage to Florida in Hubert’s camper to visit family and friends along the way who moved South.

Barbara loved her community in Packanack Lake. She put her love of sports to great use on behalf of the children of Packanack Lake.  She became the sports commissioner for the Packanack Lake Athletic Association. She started the girls’ basketball league, coached girl’s teams in T-ball and softball, as well as being the assistant coach on her son Robert’s Senior League baseball team, often filling in as head coach in the absence of the head coach, whose job often prevented him from coaching on game day.  The Packanack Lake Athletic Association recognized Barbara’s enormous contribution to the sports program and children of the community by establishing an annual award in her name, the “Barbara Murray Most Valuable Player Award.”  Barbara augmented her administrative athletic activities by being active herself, joining a bowling league, and later volleyball league, where her team, the Packanettes, won the league championship more than 20 times.  In later years, she and her group of walking friends rose early every morning for their walks around the lake, and later the peninsula.

Barbara was a devoted fan of the theater and spent many years as a Packanack Player, particularly noted for her acting, directing and dancing in the annual Packanack Players’ Summer Show.  Barbara’s commitment to the Packanack Players helped it thrive as a beloved cultural institution in the community.  Barbara loved to attend Broadway plays, and for many years, with her group of theater loving friends, had memberships at the Barn Theater and Papermill Playhouse.  These theater outings included Barbara’s other passion, post theater fine dining with plenty of wine and conversation with good friends.  Between shows, Barbara loved movie nights organized by her friends John and Brigette Davis at their house where film, fun and pizza with friends was the agenda for the evening.

Barbara’s most important quality was her devotion to her family and friends.  Barbara loved the holidays.  She continued the tradition of the Murray/Bydlik family Thanksgiving that her parents began during WWII in the family’s cold water flat on Bergenline Avenue in Union City.  The tradition expanded to including family friends, and at times her husband Hubert’s relatives from Ireland.

Barbara is survived by her four children; Robert and his wife Leslie of Stockbridge, MA, Thomas and his wife Rhonda Gottlieb of New York, NY, Donald of New York, NY, and Charissa Cronin and her husband Brian of Wayne, five beloved grandchildren; Stephen Murray and his wife Araceli of North Adams, MA, Megan Murray of Great Barrington, MA, and Zoe, Patrick and Robert Cronin of Wayne, one brother; Robert Muendel of Hoboken, one brother-in-law Brian Murray of Jersey City and many great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Barbara’s memory would be greatly appreciated.  Please consider the Wayne Memorial First Aid Squad, P.O. Box 2004, Wayne, NJ 07474, or help support Barn Theater with a donation to; Barn Theater, PO Box 102, Montville, NJ 07045.