George was born in Woodstock, Ontario on a farm settled by his Highland Scottish family. Even as a young boy he knew he was bound for a life in politics and the world of newspapers.

His newspaper career began at the age of 16 and from that time he worked for various newspapers across Canada and as a correspondent in the Far East. George also represented the Cariboo District in the provincial legislative and federal parliament. He was an MLA from 1933 to 1941. He was elected an MP in 1949 and served one term before retiring to full-time newspaper work.

Like his wife Margaret, George was a great believer in the North Country. He was a "true Canadian with a clear vision of the great destiny of the Canadian north." His love of the newspaper business was apparent throughout his life.

Margaret and George had a son and a daughter, Daniel and Georgina. Both children were active in different aspects of the newspaper world and later, on the retirement of the Murrays in 1959, were to became partners in the Alaska Highway News with Dan as publisher, Georgina as editor and Mr. John Quelle as production manager.

George passed away in August 1961 and with his passing, the north lost a staunch advocate and great friend.

Margaret Theresa Lally, the seventh of nine children, was born in 1887 in western Kansas to poor Irish immigrant parents. Arriving in Vancouver, Canada in 1912 she promptly fell in love with it and decided to stay. Within a year of her arrival, she married George Matheson Murray, a Vancouver Weekly publisher. Thus began the saga of the "Newspapering Murrays."

When the construction of the Alaska Highway became a reality and the tiny northern communities were catapulted into chaotic prosperity, the Murrays came north to start a newspaper and report on the road that would change so many lives. One day in 1943, they proudly held the very first edition of the Alaska Highway News, Fort St. John's first newspaper. The paper had to be printed in Vancouver in the beginning and although it was sometimes returned with the news as much as two weeks late, people lined up for their copies.

With the completion of the highway and the end of the war, Fort St. John settled down to become a strong community. In the lead as one of its strongest supporters was Margaret Murray. She once said that she saw so much in Fort St. John that it was a challenge to get it all down on paper. In 1946 the first printing plant was established in Fort St. John to print the Alaska Highway News with "YE ED," as Margaret took to calling herself, firmly at the controls.

"Ma" Murray, as she came to be known, wrote like she talked, with colour and enthusiasm. Short on grammar, her writing was the joy of her readers and the despair of many a typesetter. Completely untrained for the job, she had a "nose for news" and found challenge in all she sought.

Throughout her career Margaret was well-known, well loved, often criticized but never forgotten. She appeared as guest speaker at countless functions, was heard on radio, made personal appearances on television as well as having a documentary made on her life and career. She was an outspoken supporter of her husband during his political career and shared conversation and opinion with many well-known figures. Margaret left her mark on all she met.

Margaret was honoured by the country she adopted and loved without reserve when she received the Order Of Canada from Governor-General Michner. She was also presented with an Honourary Doctor of Laws degree from Simon Fraser University in recognition of her illustrious career.

Until her death in 1982, Margaret never gave up. "The veteran journalist known for her crusty wit and caustic political comments" had a career that spanned seven decades. Her enthusiastic and sometimes controversial spirit continued to the end. Her name will go down in the history of the north country as one of its most staunch supporters and she will be remembered and spoken of with humour and with love. She truly was "Canada's Most Lovable Newspaper Woman."

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