Marcia Blood Murray,

Marcia Blood, born June 23, 1940, was the second child of four (Daniel, Marcia, Joanna and Nola) born to Marjorie Alene and Harold Blood. She was a cute, care-free farm girl growing up on the Jones Family Century Farm in the beautiful and peaceful Palouse Country rolling hills.

She attended Palouse (WA) Public School, then transferred to Potlatch (ID) Public School. All the while, her love of horses intensified as she grew into a young woman, raising and training show horses. While in high school, she reigned as queen of the Cayuse Kids Saddle Club and competed in equestrian Gymkhanas. She especially enjoyed jumping events with her American Saddler, Major, who she rescued from the stock yards and trained to compete. She enjoyed summer moonlight horseback rides with family and friends and occasionally a Sunday ride on the rural dirt roads to worship at the historic Freeze Church built in 1899.

4-H played a big part in Marcia’s life. She was an active member of Dewfield Doers 4-H club, serving in leadership roles and winning many project prizes and awards. Her market steers always won fitting and showing ribbons and brought good prices at the fair auctions and the Spokane Junior Livestock Shows.

Marcia’s summer trips to the Schmid Dairy Farm in Payette County broadened Marcia’s perspective of dry land farming versus irrigation farming. Her southern Idaho cousins always welcomed her visits.

After graduation from Potlatch High School Marcia, her brother Dan and sister Joanna worked hard showing prize Aryshire Dairy cattle in open class at northwest county, regional and state fairs. The number of registered cattle exhibited and hauled from fair to fair by truck and trailer averaged twenty head. When breakdowns occurred, Marcia used her mechanical “know how” to get the cattle on the road again and to the next fair.

She later married Leroy Murray and raised his two young children, Rebecca and Joe, as if they were her own. When her two sons, Myron and Marty were born, they brought her great joy.

Marcia was baptized in the Palouse Christian Church and continued to live the Christian faith. Her greatest gift to family and friends was unlimited kindness and huckleberry desserts, especially Huckleberry Betty, made from the berries she picked in the remote areas of Idaho mountains.

Marcia supported her husband and children on their large Potlatch farm near the perimeter of the Freeze Church and Cemetery. She cooked many farm-hearty meals and entertained guests as a gracious hostess. After farm life, she moved to Post Falls, then to Coeur d’Alene. Here she was thrilled to publicly display the Model T Ford inherited from her Mother, along with family pride and history surrounding it at local classic car shows.

On July 14, 2020, our beloved Marcia walked into heaven surrounded by Angels and held in the Love of God’s Hands. She is deeply missed by those who love her. Her wish is to be interred in the Freeze Cemetery where the graves of her mother, father, brother, grandmother Jones and grandfather B.J. Jones are, overlooking the Potlatch farm.

A small family gathering to celebrate Marcia’s life and generous love was held at the family lake cabin on Lake Coeur d’Alene on Aug. 8, 2021. Funeral services are pending.