By Jim Stammerman
By Jim Stammerman
He was probably the only person who still referred to University Chancellor Herman B Wells as "the kid."
Floyd I. McMurray was a childhood friend of Wells in Boone County and he led a full life until his death on Jan. 29 in Clarksville, just two weeks after his 106th birthday. He was most proud of his role as the first director in 1941 of the institution that would become Indiana University Southeast.
McMurray traveled widely, was a high school and college teacher, served in the U.S. Army in World War I and World War II, was county school superintendent in Boone County, was elected Indiana's State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1933 and was reelected for eight years.
In 1941, he was persuaded by then-IU President Wells to take on the challenge of establishing the new IU Falls City Area Center in Jeffersonville that would later develop into IU Southeast.
McMurray arrived in southern Indiana that summer with a typewriter, class enrollment forms and a budget of $6,918 which included his salary. A room was provided to him in the old Jeffersonville High School building and he quickly organized 15 evening classes that would be conducted that first semester at various high schools in the region.
He served as center director, faculty member, admissions director and business manager as he got the new enterprise off to a solid start. More than 300 students enrolled for the first year. The center had more than 2,000 students when McMurray retired in 1956.
He often visited the new IUS campus for special events such as groundbreakings and was a big fan of IU basketball games on television.
"His leadership, management and political expertise helped to establish a sound foundation for the IU regional campus," said current IUS Chancellor F. C. Richardson. "All of southern Indiana owes a great debt of gratitude to this wonderful and gifted man for what he did for higher education and for the quality of life in this region."
McMurray earned his bachelor's degree from Butler University and his master's at IU Bloomington. He held honorary doctorates from IU, and Taylor and Anderson universities. He was a former president of the Jeffersonville Rotary Club and was a member for 50 years.
The Floyd McMurray Scholarship was established at IUS to assist academically qualified students.
He is survived by a son, R. Devon McMurray, Ft. Thomas, Ky.; a daughter, Maryette Marguet, Greenville; eight grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. The funeral took place Feb. 1 in New Albany.
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