Patty Murray - Early Life

Early Life

One of seven children, Murray was born in Bothell, Washington, to Beverly A. (née McLaughlin) and David L. Johns. Her mother was an accountant. Her father fought in World War II and was awarded a Purple Heart. Her ancestry includes Welsh, Irish, Scottish, and French-Canadian. As a teenager, her family was forced to apply for welfare assistance when her father became disabled due to the onset of multiple sclerosis. He had been the manager of a five-and-ten store. She attended Saint Brendan Catholic School as a young child.

Murray received her Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education from Washington State University in 1972. She was a preschool teacher for several years and taught a parenting class at Shoreline Community College from 1984 to 1987.

Read more about this topic:  Patty Murray

Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:

    Early education can only promise to help make the third and fourth and fifth years of life good ones. It cannot insure without fail that any tomorrow will be successful. Nothing “fixes” a child for life, no matter what happens next. But exciting, pleasing early experiences are seldom sloughed off. They go with the child, on into first grade, on into the child’s long life ahead.
    James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)

    There are two births: the one when light
    First strikes the new awakened sense;
    The other when two souls unite,
    And we must count our life from thence,
    When you loved me and I loved you,
    Then both of us were born anew.
    William Cartwright (1611–1643)