REMEMBERING

Our beloved Principal, Mr. Graeme Armstrong Murray (August 24, 1931-April 7, 2015), on his 86^th birth anniversary.

   In MH (Mount Hermon School) we used to get a holiday on August 24^th because it was Mr. Murray’s birthday. On this day we recall the days of our youth in MH when Mr. Murray was there – 1955-1978.

   A former student, Ved Prakash Agarwal (SC 1971), paid a brief tribute to Mr. Murray in 1978, the year he left MH after serving for 24 years:

    “I did not know that this would be his last year, but somehow I was not surprised. I respected him as most children respected their teachers, and I suppose I was a bit infatuated with him. As a man I liked him and I hope I look at him honestly, good points, warts and all. I have never known him anything but honest, abrasive certainly, aggressive and blunt always, be it on the cricket field, in the classroom, or in the chapel where he is expounding a theory on the current trends of discipline among students.

    Mr. Murray is one of those most casual and immediately likable persons I have ever met. He knows character instinctively and is always in a hurry to impose the force of his own which is considerable. Perhaps the secret of his rugged good nature is that he is an incurable individualist, certain of himself that he can afford to be sure of others. This trait has always invited comments and he has been described by an NP (St. Joseph’s School) teacher as petulant, rude and stubborn. However, there is one yardstick about people I know. The ones who don’t change are the genuine ones. Bhuntay (a Nepali term for a fat person) has not bothered to change. He is always going to be his own man and do his own thing. He is loved by his students and although he endangers more arguments, more fury, more passing than others, he definitely is the most intriguing man I have ever met.

    Mr. Murray has been here for twenty-four years now. Thousands studied at his feet, united in reverence and love for him. I don’t know what he taught us and I don’t really care. He taught us to think and that was enough. That was the heart of it all, Bhuntay made us think. He was his own man. Non Scholae Sed Vitae Discimus (Not for school but for life we learn). That was his legacy to us – he made each of us what to be his own man.”

   In his final year at Mount Hermon, 1978, Mr. GA Murray in his Annual Principal’s Report on Speech Day, urged staff and students of the need to keep alive the spirit of Mount Hermon School.

   “Overall, I think, three things characterise what Mount Hermon is for me. I hope that they also speak to you of what is at the heart of our school, and that they will ever continue to do so. They are Friendship, Fellowship, and Worship. Perhaps I should have put Worship first, for it is in the worship and praise of God that we first find that friendship and fellowship which must characterise all we do in the Mount Hermon community.

   These are things I found at Mount Hermon when I came first with my wife, way back in 1955. These are things which I trust I have tried to cherish and develop through the years that have followed. These are now those values which I pass on to you, staff and students alike, for you to cherish and preserve and strengthen through the years that remain to you at Mount Hermon, that they may by you in your time  be transmitted to many others in the years to come.”

  On this special day we also remember – with love, thanks and gratitude – Mrs. Murray, Adrienne, Stephen, Bronwyn and Johnny for their service and friendship.

   “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.  (Numbers 6:24-26, Bible)

Hail Mt. Hermon!