Miles Murray Refined Cyo Summer Camp For Girls

Bette Miles Murray, director of the Seattle Archdiocese's Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) summer camps in the 1950s and 1960s, brought her own unique touch to what until then was a tough, no-frills, scout-style camp experience.

She was a capable camper. But she also had charm and manners.

"Mother had an impact on thousands of girls," said her daughter, Susan Bergmann of Shoreline. "She believed in girls being girls, yet being leaders able to take responsibility for their camps, to run them and do the things that needed to be done.

"She was called Miss Bette by everyone. She was originally `Betty,' but somewhere along the line she legally changed it because she loved (actress) Bette Davis."

When the CYO camps began, they were shaped in the scouting tradition with touches of the military, said CYO director Steve McAuliffe.

"Bette is remembered for bringing a softening, feminine perspective to how you should run summer camps for kids, particularly girls," McAuliffe said. "Gordy (Hamilton, then director) brought her in to do that when camps were segregated by sex, and not coed like today.

"She could be in the middle of the wilderness but was always a lady. She could be covered with mud or swimming with the kids, but never compromised her dignity."

Mrs. Murray died Monday (April 6) of complications stemming from surgery for the effects of Parkinson's disease. She was 78.

After graduating from Lincoln High School in 1939, the Seattle native spent a year at the University of Washington. She then married Robert Murray and began a family.

During World War II she worked as an office administrator for Boeing.

"Then she went back to being the consummate mom . . . who with our father was the center of the wheel for our family," said Bergmann.

Mrs. Murray was CYO camp director from 1954 to 1967. She planned activities, hired staff members and oversaw summer sessions at Camp Don Bosco near Carnation, and at camps at Blanchet High School and Raft Island near Gig Harbor.

She often traveled to Maui, where she and her husband owned a condominium. He died in 1974.

"She was the kind of person who never really saw bad," said Bergmann. "She didn't think people ever meant to hurt anyone else directly. She was very straightforward in everything she did and said.

"When they built Camp Hamilton (near Monroe), they named Mount Murray in honor of my mother. It was a real tribute to her, named because of her history in developing the program."

Other survivors include her sons Robert Murray of Redmond, James Murray of Nashville and Thomas Murray of Federal Way; her brothers William Miles and Harry Miles, both of Seattle; her sister, Mary Miles of Chicago; 13 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at St. Mark's Catholic Church, 18033 15th Place N.E., Shoreline. Remembrances can be sent to CYO Summer Camps, 910 Marion St., Seattle, WA 98104.

Carole Beers' phone message number is 206-464-2391. Her e-mail address is: cbee-new@seatimes.com