“Love your family and enjoy your time with them while they are still here,” advised Murray Ivey. “Always have a couple of friends that will be there through thick and thin and will always make you laugh. Pray hard and work hard!”
Murray Ivey is a true country boy who has always enjoyed spending time outdoors and being with his family as much as he can.
He cherishes the memories he has made over the years, especially when having fun meant just being outside.
“I’ve lived in Quitman all my life. I was raised in Elwood and graduated from Quitman High School in 1993,” Murray reminisced. “Growing up in Elwood as a kid, there weren’t any phones and laptops. We played outside, stomped through the woods, went fishing, and just made up things to do. We just enjoyed life. Kids nowadays just don’t know what that’s like. Everybody is now too busy on their phone or looking through Facebook, and I’m guilty of that too. People just don’t enjoy life outside anymore like when I was growing up.”
Of course, there are some activities that he still enjoys doing outside. He still loves to hunt and fish when he gets the chance.
There are already many hunting and fishing stories that he can easily recall, and he only intends to continue making more memories in the upcoming years.
“Probably one of my greatest hunting stories was when I was able to kill a big buck behind my house. It was a big nine point that I was able to get mounted,” recalled Murray. “With fishing, one of my big memories was probably when my cousin was five or six and caught a big bream out of our pond. She told her daddy she wanted to get it mounted, and they did. I still remember that because her dad and I were both shocked that there was a bream that big in that pond. As a kid, I remember going to the pond and fishing with my granddaddy. I enjoyed that, just trying to catch catfish.”
He has always been a hard worker. One of the jobs he’s held over the years was working for the City of Meridian.
“I’ve had a variety of jobs,” expressed Murray. “I previously worked for the City of Meridian Public Works for 12 years. We did road maintenance, drainage, built roads, ran heavy equipment, and stuff like that.”
Eventually, he decided to obtain a job a little closer to home and started the position he has held for the past decade.
“I currently work for Enterprise School District in maintenance,” informed Murray. “I’ve been at Enterprise for 10 years and met a lot of great people and made a lot of nice friends. I’ve made a lot of memories there.”
Starting in July, he will take on a new chapter in his life as he officially retires. Retirement won’t slow him down, though. He still plans to maintain the relationships he has made over the years through his job as well as spend as much time as he can with his growing family.
“In July I’ll be retiring, but I may go back and visit with everyone sometimes. I just won’t be handed work orders when I’m there and can just hang out and see everyone,” declared Murray. “I’m looking forward to retiring. I’ll enjoy some time doing what I enjoy, like cooking on the grill and spending time with my grandbabies. I’m looking forward to that the most. I have Judd, who is three years old, and Jaycee, who will be four months old soon. I just love them to death and can’t wait to spend more time with them and enjoy them when I get to see them. I’m just going to enjoy my retirement and see where this next chapter takes me. I don’t have any plans and will just see where each day takes me.”
No matter what each day brings, Murray will continue to make others smile as much as he can. He plans to continue to help bring joy to others as he spends time with his family and start the next chapter of his life.
