Ray Murray Chronicle/John Speer

“Every day was different, every person was different,” is how Ray Murray sums up his past 20 and one-half year career leading Tama County Investment Services for The State Bank of Toledo. His last day on the job was Dec. 19. He will be joining his wife, Char, in retirement – she retired as secretary to the South Tama Middle School principal in May.

Brian Sokol, who has worked along side Murray for the past five years, is now in charge of the bank’s investment division.

Murray admits he was inexperienced when he took the job in 1994. Then, he had recently been made a partner in the Mosebach-Griffin CPA firm in Tama when the offer to start the investment service came.

He said Bill Skow and John Kavalier (the bank’s vice president and president) told him they were thinking of adding investment services which was becoming the trend in Iowa banks then when offering him the job.

“I knew nothing (of the business) at the time,” Murray said. “I was in the investment club at Mosebach’s.”

He credits a long association with Broker Dealer Financial Services Corp., Des Moines, sound advice from Dave Jarvil, a Charles City investment advisor and “a lot of reading” for the success of Tama County investment Services.

Headquartered at the main bank at Broadway and High streets in downtown Toledo, Murray also points to his customer base as a reason for the growth of the operation over the years.

He said some clients wanted him to make their investments using his own judgment, others aimed for specific investment areas such as bonds and lately, preferred stock. “Others would just come in and say “Buy 200 shares of Coke,”” Murray said.

He said “the word of mouth” type of advertising served him well.

Murray, who grew up in Hudson, came from a newspaper family- his late father, Cliff Murray, owned and published The Hudson Herald for 50 years. He remembers his first job was in 7th grade serving as the janitor at the newspaper office. While he learned such skills as Linotype operator, he also worked for the City of Hudson in the street department during high school summers.

Then, just 23 days after graduating from Hudson High School, it was off to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and following graduation, five years on active duty in the U.S. Navy.

While home on leave he met his future wife, Char.

Upon retiring to Hudson from the Navy, he worked in the newspaper for a year, then, with a partner, went into the bar business for three years. A customer was a certified public accountant and steered Murray toward that profession. He went on to take course work at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls and became a CPA.

He said he had job offers from certified public accountant firms in Waterloo and Tama and after considering both, he and his wife chose Tama-Toledo.

The Murrays have three children, Erin Eike, Ankeny, Sean, Toledo, and Kate Oberender, Indianola and five grandchildren.

Ray says in retirement they look forward to “having fun.” He admits they already do with annual vacations at a time share in Cancun and taking a yearly cruise. He also mentions golf of which he makes the admission he already has “a bit” of experience playing.

And, there also some plans involving “painting everything” in their home which Char has in mind, he says.