Gifted Musician, Wife of Nobel Prize Winner, Active in Wellesley Community

Virginia Ellington Link Murray, 99 and ¾ years young, died peacefully at Newfield House, Plymouth MA, on November 11, 2023, surrounded by her family. She previously resided in Wellesley Hills, MA for 72 years.

Known all her life as Bobby, she was born on January 28, 1924, in Binghamton, NY, the only child of Virginia Ellington Link and George Theron Link. Mr. Link co-founded, with his brother Edwin A. Link (inventor of the first flight simulator), the Link Flying School, and was vice president and treasurer of Link Aviation Company (maker of the Link Trainer aviation simulator). Exposed to the early exciting days of aviation, 4- year-old Bobby enjoyed flying through the clouds in her Uncle Ed’s open cockpit bi-plane. She also loved horseback riding with her parents at Linkhaven, the family country farm outside of Binghamton, NY. Her passion for singing was evident even as a small child—she loved to sing around the house. With her Link surname, she was nicknamed after the songbird “little Bobolink”, which quickly was shortened to Bobby!

In 1942, Bobby graduated from Mt. Vernon Seminary, a women’s private preparatory school in Washington, D.C. (now The George Washington University at Mount Vernon College). She witnessed the impact of the tense days of World War II in Washington, D.C., and was a member of the final class to graduate before the United States Navy took over the Mount Vernon Seminary campus on Nebraska Avenue “in the interest of the war effort.”

Bobby was a gifted musician whose beautiful soprano voice, accomplished piano playing, and creative composing skills enriched the lives of so many. After graduation, she moved to Boston and studied singing, opera, and piano privately under Boris Goldovsky, director of the opera department at the New England Conservatory of Music. She roomed and became friends with fellow student and soprano Phyllis Curtin. Together they performed at Fort Devens Army Hospital, Ayers MA.

Her professional music training took a hiatus after she married plastic and reconstructive surgeon Joseph E. Murray, MD (Harvard Medical School 1943B) in 1945. The young couple lived in Valley Forge, Phoenixville, PA, during Dr Murray’s service years with the US Army Medical Corp. Bobby volunteered at the Valley Forge General Hospital, singing for the severely wounded soldiers. After Dr. Murray’s discharge from the US Army in November 1947, Bobby and her husband both resumed their professional training in Boston. They were married for 67 years; Dr. Murray died in 2012.

In Boston, Bobby continued her studies in opera and voice under Olga Averino, head of the Longy School voice department, and Marie Sundelius, noted soprano and teacher at the New England Conservatory. She performed operatic roles, including in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte (Fiordiligi) and Puccini’s La Boheme (Mimi) with a Boston University summer repertory group in Duxbury under David McCloskey. Bobby was a soloist with Chorus Pro Musica, Boston, and soloist in the premiere of Theodore Chanler’s opera “The Pot of Fat—An Opera in Six Scenes” in Cambridge, MA. She also recorded songs by Nicolas Slonimsky, and Lieder by various German composers, with Mr. Slonimsky as piano accompanist.

Bobby’s dedication to music changed direction during the years that she managed a busy household of six children (born over a span of almost eighteen years!) and supported Dr. Murray’s medical career. She composed musicals for Children’s Theater of the Junior League of Boston, including a popular musical “Jackie and the Cornstalk” adapted from the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. It was performed in the Boston public schools and to benefit Action for Children’s Television (ACT). She served on the Board of Boris Goldovsky’s Opera Company, and was a member of the New England Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions Committee. She and her husband were patrons of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for sixty years.

Among Bobby’s many attributes were her ability to warmly connect with people and animals, and her lively interest in other cultures, languages, and histories. An avid reader, she was able to communicate in five languages; she traveled extensively with family and friends to North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. She rode a yak in the highlands of Nepal. In 1990, she celebrated with her husband and children in Stockholm, Sweden, when Dr. Murray received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work in organ and tissue transplantation. He had performed the world’s first successful organ/kidney transplant in Boston in 1954. Dr. Murray also developed craniofacial and plastic surgery at the Brigham and Children’s hospitals, Boston. Bobby graciously supported her husband’s activities at Harvard Medical School; she hosted many young doctors, surgeons, and visiting scientists in their Wellesley home.

Bobby enjoyed swimming, competitive tennis, boating, hiking, and family camping. She was especially proud of her work as Board Member of the Wellesley Conservation Council at which time she co-founded the Friends of Centennial Park. Consequently, Centennial Reservation, Wellesley, was created. A life-long learner, at the time of Bobby’s move to Plymouth, during Covid in 2020 at age 96, she was an active member of the First Thursday Book Club, the Postcomers Book Club, the Gains Investment Club, the Wellesley Garden Study Club and the St Andrew’s Church Bible Study group. At Newfield House, she was a cracker jack speller and history buff competitor.

Devoted to her ever-expanding family, Bobby first won her husband’s love with her famous chocolate pie; over the years she baked more than 300 personally-decorated birthday cakes for family and friends, often accompanied by her original poems She and Dr. Murray cherished family summers on Chappaquiddick Island, off of Martha’s Vineyard, with their children: Virginia (Ginny) Murray of Plymouth, MA, Meg Murray Dupont and her husband Don of Lafayette, CA, Joe Link Murray and his wife Karin of Scituate, MA, Kathy Murray of Plymouth, MA, Thomas Murray and his wife Melissa of Dallas, TX, and Richard Murray and his wife Sara of Scituate, MA. Family events now include her 18 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren.

Donations in Bobby’s memory may be made to Newfield Staff Appreciation Fund, Newfield House, 19 Newfield Road, Plymouth, MA 02360 or to Office of Advancement & Engagement/ Opera & Voice, New England Conservatory, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, or to St Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 79 Denton Road, Wellesley, MA 02482.

Funeral services and reception will be held at St Andrew’s Church, 79 Denton Road, Wellesley, MA 02482. on Saturday November 18, 11 am. A link to remote live viewing will be available on the church website: standrewswellesley.org

Interment of ashes will take place in 2024 at New West Side Cemetery, Edgartown, MA, Martha’s Vineyard.