Harrell and Loretta Martin Murrey

Harrell and Loretta Martin Murrey met during their college years on the Hill in the 1970s. With his degree in business and economics, Harrell was employed for seven years in retail and then for the remainder of his career at R. R. Donnelley Printing in Glasgow, Kentucky. In his retirement, he attends WKU football and basketball games, contributes regularly to the WKU Athletic Fund, golfs, works on the farm, and mentors several boys in the Kids Hope program at First United Methodist, where he serves as the church treasurer and head of security.

Loretta received a Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Kentucky, taught English for 40 years, and retired from WKU-Glasgow as Professor Emeritus in 2014. She published A Guest on Earth: The Life and Poetry of Joy Bale Boone, Kentucky Poet Laureate 1997-1999; A Jackman of All Trades: Eugene Martin Reflects on a Century of Kentucky Life; and Robert and Erma’s Family: Who We Are and How We Got to Kentucky as well as 24 issues of the student-written oral history Broomsedge Chronicles: Stories from South Central Kentucky.

Harrell and Loretta now live on the family farm in Barren County, Kentucky. Their daughter, Ellen, graduated from WKU with a degree in music.

To further give back to the university, Harrell and Loretta established the Harrell and Loretta Martin Murrey Scholarship Fund in 2021. The fund assists deserving WKU students from Barren County or Glasgow High School who have demonstrated financial need and are not receiving other significant aid or scholarship assistance. First preference is given to students in Glasgow, Kentucky. Through this fund, Harrell and Loretta’s legacies live on in perpetuity.