MISSION VIEJO : City Renames Center for Its First Mayor

Norman P. Murray, the city’s first mayor, was honored when the City Council voted to rename the Mission Viejo Community and Senior Center after him.

It was a tribute to Murray’s long list of contributions to the community, which includes helping to form the first Mission Viejo community service district to prepare for incorporation and then serving on the first City Council. But Murray isn’t done yet.

Far from being discouraged when he lost a reelection bid last year, Murray sought and received a Planning Commission post and in his spare time volunteers on the city Historical Committee and at the local Kiwanis Club.

“I am very pleased and proud of this honor,” Murray said. “But I just have to keep occupied. I’m no couch potato.”

A resident since 1971, just a few years after the first houses were erected in this planned community, Murray said his decision to invest time in community work was easily made.

“This is the nicest place we (Murray and his wife, Mary) ever lived,” he said. “Mission Viejo has such a lovely environment. The cleanliness and beauty of the city has always been very important to me.”

Much of the credit for the city’s development should go to Murray, council members said at the meeting last week during which the facility was named after him.

“He was the hardest worker of the founding fathers of Mission Viejo,” said Mayor Robert D. Breton. “He brought us to the threshold of cityhood.”

Councilwoman Susan Withrow said Murray “not only contributed greatly in the past, he just continues to give an incredible amount of time.”

The council hopes to hold dedication ceremonies for the Norman P. Murray Community and Senior Center on Sept. 11 in conjunction with a celebration of the new World Cup Soccer training facilities in adjoining Oso Viejo Park.