Barbara I. Murray

1947 – 2018

West Springfield – Barbara I. (Wawrzyniak) Murray, 70, died Thursday in Mercy Hospital with her loving husband by her side. Barbara was born in Hahn, Germany and came to this country under unusual circumstances. Her parents, Steve and Marianna Wawrzyniak, were very young adults living outside of Warsaw, when Hitler's troops invaded Poland in 1939. After the war Steve and Marianna married. As the Russians took over Poland as had been agreed between Roosevelt and Stalin at the Yalta Conference, the young couple were determined to get out of Poland and relocate to the United States. The travel across war-torn Europe to America took four years. Barbara was born during this journey in the village of Hahn in Germany. The family arrived in Chicopee when Barbara was two years old. She graduated from Chicopee High School and St. Vincent School of Nursing and became an X-Ray Technologist at Mercy Hospital where she has worked for almost 50 years. For most of her career, she was an X-Ray Instructor, helping scores of Technologists learn the trade. She has lived in West Springfield for 42 years. Barbara was a member of Springfield Country Club and Longmeadow Country Club. She leaves her husband of 42 years William J. Murray; a brother Ted Wawrzyniak; her niece Gabby Schreiber; two nephews Jason Wawrzyniak and his wife Gisele and Steven Wawrzyniak and his companion Courtney Goodrun; Barbara's new grandnephews, Dorian and Asher, and her sisters-in-law, Dorothy Murray, Petsy Schreiber and Marilyn Murray. The family would like to thank Doctors Johnson and Bishop and their staff at the Sister Caritas Cancer Center at Mercy Hospital and Doctor Chen and her staff at Dana Farber for their dedicated care which added to the length and quality of Barbara life during her courageous struggle with cancer. The funeral will be held at the West Springfield Curran-Jones Funeral Home Tuesday, February 27 ^th at 9:00am with Liturgy in St. Thomas the Apostle Church followed by burial in St. Thomas Cemetery. Visiting hours will be held Monday from 4:00 – 7:00pm. For more details please visit curranjones.com. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Sister Caritas Cancer Center, 271 Carew Street, Springfield, MA 01104.