Well-Traveled Veteran's Headstone Finds Home Near Estes Park
ESTES PARK, Colo. (AP) — Pvt. Peter P. Murray — or at least the headstone that once marked his grave — has finally found a resting place.
After traveling hundreds of miles over the course of several decades, the weathered, government-issued headstone recently was set in concrete on a hillside overlooking U.S. Highway 36 near Estes Park. It stands on a wooded property owned by Karolynn Murray, no relation.
The marble monument is roughly 560 miles from where Murray, who died in 1936, is buried in Omaha, Nebraska. It wound up in Estes Park because a veteran of the Marine Corps wanted to make sure Murray, an Army veteran, was not forgotten.
"He's probably had more transfers since he's been with me than the whole time he was in the Army," said Ralph Hollenbeck, who moved to Estes Park about 15 years ago with the headstone in tow.
Hollenbeck discovered the stone around 1981 as he was cleaning up debris piled behind a shed on property he owned near Raymond, Nebraska. It was buried amid a stack of old lumber and other "junk."
He cleaned the stone and started looking for its proper place. With the help of a friend's mother, Hollenbeck learned Murray was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Omaha.
He made contact with one of Murray's daughters, who wasn't certain they were talking about the same person, Hollenbeck said. She was not aware that her father had ever served in the Army.
The woman, who lived in Omaha, said she would pick up the headstone if she ever drove through Lexington, Nebraska, where Hollenbeck lived at the time. But arrangements were not worked out.
So Hollenbeck continued to move the heavy, 4-foot-tall monument each time he moved over the years. Attempts to get information from service organizations and government offices never panned out.
Hollenbeck served 22 years with the Marines, including tours of duty in Vietnam. He also worked as a recruiter and drill sergeant.
His stateside duties included informing the families of killed Marines about the loss of their loved ones. It was important for him to know Murray was properly recognized, Hollenbeck said.
He also felt some connection to the Army because his daughter, Donna, served 30 years before retiring as a colonel.
"I just wanted to find out where (Murray) was buried so his military service could be celebrated," he said.
Online records on Murray are scarce. Peter P. and Louise A. Murray were married Oct. 2, 1920, when he was 34 years old and she was 28. They had two daughters — Joan and Urita.
In the 1930 census, Murray listed his occupation as salesman for a food company. The family lived in Omaha.
He served briefly with the U.S. Army in 1918, according to the application his wife filed with the War Department for a headstone in 1936.
The headstone probably was used to mark Murray's grave at Holy Sepulchre until Louise Murray died in 1954 and a marker with both names was installed, said Bill Barnes, manager of Catholic Cemeteries for the Archdiocese of Omaha.
Typically in such cases, the original headstone would be given to the family or returned to the government, Barnes said. Svoboda Monument Co., which made the replacement marker for the Murray gravesite, has long been out of business.
How Murray's stone wound up 60 miles away in Raymond is not known.
As Hollenbeck was clearing out some of his belongings this fall, he decided it was time to do something with Murray's headstone. He talked to his longtime friend, Karolynn Murray, about placing it on her property.
She agreed, primarily so Murray "would have a place to rest and have some closure."
Murray's relatives hail from the East Coast and the Midwest, she said.
"Who knows - we could be descendants," Murray said.
- By KEVIN DUGGAN, The Coloradoan
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