Edward Murray Harris Jr.

Edward “Murray” Harris Jr. was born on August 26, 1941to Edward Murray Harris Sr .and Myrtle Wunderle Harris at Hermann Hospital in Houston, TX. He was raised an only child in the Afton Oaks neighborhood of Houston and graduated Lamar High School in 1959. He then attended The University of Texas in Austin where he majored in Business Administration, was a member of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity and ROTC. He met his future wife Susan Blank on a blind date to the Texas-Oklahoma football game in 1961. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1963 with a BBA and a commission in the United States Army as a 2nd Lieutenant. He served a year on the peacekeeping team in Korea and returned home to Houston in the spring of 1965. He and Susan were married on April 25, 1965. They moved to El Paso, TX where he finished his active military service at Fort Bliss. He continued to serve his country in the Army Reserves for another 25 years.

Murray and Susan returned to Houston and settled down to raise a family. They had two children, a son, Donald Murray Harris and a daughter, Tamma Lynn Harris. Murray’s career took the family from Houston to Wyoming to Port Arthur and back to Houston where he worked for Internorth Corporation in the engineering department until the oil bust of the mid 80’s. The oil bust was an opportunity for Murray as he took on contract jobs around the world in the petrochemical plant building scene. He traveled to Canada, Alaska and Africa working on various projects. One of his favorite stories was about living on a ship in Puget Sound working on the Alaska oil spill clean-up project. Susan remained in Houston and kept the home fires burning and raising the kids. He was usually home for several months between jobs, so he kept his family close. He retired in 2003 returning to Houston.

In 2006, he and Susan moved to Canyon Lake, Texas. Canyon Lake proved to be the dream retirement he and Susan had worked so hard for over the years. He was very active at North Shore United Methodist Church, where he volunteered at Vacation Bible School, sang in the church choir and served with the United Methodist Men’s Group. While in Canyon Lake they enjoyed good times with their many friends in the North Shore Rovers, a camping group made up of like-minded fellow church members and with their friends at the Canyon Lake Yacht Club as well as with various neighbors.

They moved back to Houston in July 2025 to be closer to family.

Murray’s interests over the years included Texas Longhorns football, watching NASCAR every Sunday, and keeping up with his collections of beer cans and signs in his ‘Man Cave’ garage on the property in Canyon Lake. He also enjoyed feeding the local wildlife including deer, birds, fox and any other animal that showed up. His grandsons dubbed their yard, ‘The Canyon Lake Wildlife Zoo’. To his family and friends, he was also the song leader. He was always humming a tune or making up silly songs for his children and grandchildren. He would wake up the kids and their friends in their teenage years in the cabin in New Braunfels playing John Philip Sousa at the crack of dawn. He was also known in the family for a few ‘famous lines’- our favorite, ‘we have to rush, rush, rush to have fun, fun, fun. His family nickname was ‘Flash’, given to him in the late 70s by his son when he was briefly on crutches and moved slowly. Don, a preteen at the time thought it was funny and it stuck. We love you Flash and you will be in our hearts forever.

Murray is survived by his loving wife, Susan Blank Harris of Houston; his son, Donald Murray Harris of Austin and his wife Rindi Harris and his sons, Andrew Dement Harris and Nolan Dement Harris; his daughter Tamma Harris Howell of Houston and her husband, Matthew Owen Howell and their sons, Matthew Harris Howell and Reed William Howell. He is also survived by his brother-in-law, Charles Edwin Blank of Houston and his wife, Charleen Schwemer Blank and his niece, Kelly Elizabeth Blank of Cincinnati, Ohio and her husband, Thomas Condon and his niece Kristen Blank McQueen of Houston and her husband Ben McQueen.

Services are pending at North Shore United Methodist Church in Canyon Lake, Texas. Donations can be made in lieu of flowers to the North Shore United Methodist Church in Canyon Lake or the Canyon Lake Community Resource and Recreation Center (CRRC)