Aug. 30, 1928 – Jan. 24, 2020
Celine M. Murray, of Amherst, a retired human resources manager for the May Co. department stores in Buffalo and a bridge instructor, died unexpectedly Jan. 24 in Beechwood Continuing Care, Getzville. She was 91.
Born in Buffalo, the former Celine Stierer was the younger of two girls.
“Her mother was devoted to St. Teresa,” her daughter Kathleen Stamm said, “so she named her first daughter Teresa and St. Teresa had a sister Celine.”
She attended St. Joseph’s School and after graduating from Holy Angels Academy, she married John G. Murray. A salesman for electrical manufacturers, he was a partner in Northern Electric, an electrical equipment wholesaler. He died in 1977.
The mother of four girls, Mrs. Murray began her career at the branch of Hengerer’s department store at Main Street and Eggert Road in Eggertsville.
Her daughter Kathleen recounted, “She went to the manager and said, ‘I have an idea. I’d like to teach bridge lessons in your tea room. Then all the ladies will have lunch and they’ll go shopping.’ She sold herself. It became so successful they ran big ads for her.”
Mrs. Murray went on to become human resources manager for all five Hengerer’s stores in the Buffalo area, hiring and training staff. She also traveled to New York City annually to consult on the May Co. catalog. She continued in the position after Hengerer’s became Sibley’s and later Kaufmann’s. She retired in 2002.
Always well dressed, she continued playing bridge competitively until four years ago. She had more than 700 master points.
Deeply religious, she attended 7 a.m. Mass Monday through Friday.
“That’s how she started her morning,” Stamm said. “Then she’d stop at Bagel Brothers.”
While living in the Town of Tonawanda, she was a parishioner at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. After she moved to Amherst, she attended St. Gregory the Great Church.
Surviving are three other daughters, Patricia Sterner, Sharon Leaderstorf and Diane Keefe; eight grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, in St. Gregory the Great Church, 200 St. Gregory Court at Maple Road, Amherst.
