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In The Company of Friends

by Dr. Emmett "Duke" Murray with Polly Murray; Edited by Robb Murray

360 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #07-2391; ISBN 1-4251-5393-3; US$23.83, C$23.83, EUR16.28, £12.30

Dr. Emmett Murray's second big book of 65 adventures treats you to dramatic moments throughout high school, military service, medical studies, rugged fishing trips, and the hurricane called "Florida retirement."

About the Book

These tales from Dr. Emmett Murray, the retired family doctor from Lima, Ohio, memorialize many of the friendships that have meant the most to him in life.

Duke found adventure even in the most ordinary of places. These 65 stories (with 125 pictures) explore surprising and quirky discoveries, the drama of big decisions, and the tomfoolery that is ever-present among pals.

Duke picks up his tales back at Lima Central High during the Depression. Soon, after less than a year of college, he finds himself yanked away to the war in Europe. And still worse, as a medic, he is not allowed to protect himself with firearms.

Surviving his tour of duty, Duke still cannot return home before being trained in the disenchanting art of identifying battlefield corpses. He subsequently returns to college, finishes his education and becomes a doctor.

Duke begins his medical practice and his family but is in need of a hobby. Friends reinvigorate his boyhood enthrallment with fishing and he thereafter eagerly heads to Canada many times to enjoy the best fellowship and fresh-water angling in North America.

Much later, Duke finds that retirement brings time for reflection and reunion, but also Hurricane Charley, a nasty fluke storm that pummels the normally-untouched western coast of Florida. Turning 80, Duke tells his family what he has valued most in life.

A companion web site updates you with vivid sights and sounds from the stories. Tales written by Duke since this book appeared will be there, too: www.explain.com/newstories.

As before, Duke invites all his readers to contact him to say hello and reminisce at 239-466-5895 and at dukepollyfm@webtv.net.

About the Author

Dr. Emmett Murray ("Duke" to friends and family) practiced family medicine in Lima, Ohio from 1953 until 1995. He and his wife Polly retired to Fort Myers, Florida and then to the Woodlands area at Shell Point Village.

Duke was born at home in Lima in 1925 to Faye and Emmett Murray and was the youngest of four children (his given name is literally "Junior Emmett Murray"). His father was a construction foreman and carpenter and his mother, a former housekeeper and candy-maker, was full-time at home. Both had been raised on farms and enjoyed Duke's early pursuit of adventure as he helped with chores on his Aunt Lou and Uncle Charlie's farm.

After stints in the Army, college, and medical school, Duke began his professional life, with fishing his favorite diversion.

Dr. and Mrs. Murray were faithful supporters of many Lima cultural and professional organizations. Duke served for a time on his church consistory and was later elected to the Lima City Board of Education, serving as President from 1965-1970. He was also Chief of Staff at Lima Memorial Hospital for a two-year term during the 1980s.

From childhood, Duke has been am inveterate humorist, storyteller and mimic. His quick wit is well-known for breaking tensions during stressful situations. His greatest disappointment is the fragmentation and impersonality of modern doctor and hospital care. He plans to write about "the golden age of medicine" in a third book of stories. His first book was Come Reminisce with Me (Trafford, 2003).

About the Writing Supervisor

Pauline Murray was born to Grace and P.J. List in Columbus, Ohio. She and her twin sister Kathleen developed vivid childhood imaginations as they sang and played together as kids and afterward maintained a special lifelong bond of close affection. Home life was difficult, so both left to live on their own at the age of 17.

Pauline trained and worked as a medical secretary at Mount Carmel Hospital in Columbus where she met Duke Murray. They married after Duke's first year of medical school. Pauline used to enjoy quizzing Duke on material before his exams.

After they married and had children, Pauline (now "Polly") continued her educational support and creative example by reading aloud, both to Duke and to their children. She would read at home, in the car, in waiting rooms and before concerts and plays.

Polly has a very talented style of dramatic interpretation. It always sounds as though she is actually telling a story instead of reading. Off the cuff, she improvises wonderful characters with distinctive voices and her listeners are constantly moved to laughter and sometimes to tears.

When Polly and Duke retired and began their memoirs class, Polly assumed a preferred role of watching Duke as he typed his material. She would read the manuscripts to him, sometimes suggesting improved phraseology and correcting spelling as needed.

Polly never blows her own horn, but everyone in her family and close circle of friends well understands how important her tasteful judgment, warm encouragement and ready laughter have always been to Duke's storytelling career.

About the Editor and Producer

Duke and Polly's second son Robb grew up in a creative home, surrounded by music, reading and laughter. He took inspiration from his parents, his brother Scott, his sisters Cindy and Betsy, and from their many cousins and friends. He also took on Thomas Edison as his lifelong hero.

In grade school he began writing stories based on TV. He and his pal Bob Lunsford dictated stories as a team to both their secretarial mothers, who would type exactly as requested. With creative neighbor Sam Warner Robb also would make recordings of an imaginary radio station, WHD. Much later he and his friend Dennis Burns wrote a much-enjoyed Scarlet Letter parody as high school juniors.

In all grades, Robb and friends loved to lampoon teachers and celebrities. Robb became an impromptu mimic and in high school and college wrote and improvised much-enjoyed farcical plays and skits starring these characters.

Inclined towards the arts and humanities, Robb studied literature, foreign languages and writing in college. He won an extemporaneous essay contest at commencement on the assigned topic "Spring Fever." His graduate school thesis comparing the reading diaries of eight famous authors was published by the US Department of Education.

Robb subsequently began work as a reference librarian in downtown Chicago as he studied improvisational troop comedy at Second City. Later migrating into the computing field, Robb also took work as a commercial actor on the side. He performed in radio/TV commercials and in industrial films and cartoons.

He also published articles about his field of software training and over time contributed to ten published books in various capacities. Inspired by his dad, he wrote "Scenes from Half a Century" in 2003, which is posted on the web. He also wrote the dance numbers for a 2006 mini-musical comedy, Macho Motors, which was twice performed in Chicago and is now on YouTube.

Excerpts