McMurray-Nichols House

Here follows an excerpt from the Fall 2018 edition of the "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

ROSE HILL CIVIC ASSOCIATION AND FRANCONIA MUSEUM COMBINE TO REUNITE OLD FRIENDS
Written by Carl Sell

Since her daughter, Anna, was coming to Baltimore for a conference in her role as a librarian, Linda McMurray Duer decided to come along to visit her father’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery. Helped along by prodding from Anna, she also decided to try to find the home she left in 1958. She remembered living on Rose Hill Drive and riding her bike with her best friend, Libbie, who lived nearby.

Linda had lots of pictures of her growing up in Rose Hill, many clearly showing the house number, 4207 Rose Hill Drive. Unfortunately, Fairfax County changed all the house numbers in the early 1960s, so she wasn’t sure which one was her childhood home. The picture of Linda and her friend, Libbie, riding bikes way back when provided the clue. Linda said the picture was taken in front of her house. Behind her in the picture is the old farm house that existed on Bee Street before the new houses were built. The house across the street in the immediate background is the only one of two on Rose Hill Drive that sits at an angle. The other one faces it across the street.

It became clear that the house where Linda McMurray lived in the late 1950s was now 6416 Rose Hill Drive, owned by David and Linda Nichols, who have lived there since 1974. Linda Nichols remembered Linda McMurray’s friend, Libbie, as Elizabeth Anderson, who lived across the street on Hayfield Place. Linda Nichols pulled out her 1971 Edison High School yearbook, and Linda McMurray identified Libbie as one of the graduates pictured. She and Libbie haven’t seen each other since they were both 21 years old.

So, the Rose Hill Civic Association turned to the Franconia Museum to see if anyone there knew how to contact Libbie. Jeff Langley, a member of the Museum Board of Directors, is the administrator of a Facebook Page named “I Grew Up in Franconia,” that has hundreds of friends. And if that didn’t work, Judy (Tharpe) Hutchinson, the Museum Secretary, is friends with almost everyone from Franconia who is on Facebook. It didn’t take long for Libbie to surface. She was a friend of both Jeff and Judy! They put Libbie in touch with Linda McMurray, and the rest is history. Two childhood friends who hadn’t been in contact since the late 1950s were connected almost immediately after the search began. After high school, Libbie went to work for Pan American Airways and moved to Miami. She is still there, working for a restaurant chain. She chimes in quite frequently on the Franconia page, keeping up with her old neighborhood and high school friends.

Mary Smith, who lives near the Nichols in Rose Hill and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Franconia Museum, identified the old farm house shown in the picture as the one that was demolished when Bee Street was established. Mary said the surveyors ran into a swarm of bees when they first arrived, so the street name was a good fit. Ironically, David Nichols had two aunts who lived on Rock-A-By Road, immediately behind the farm house. Mary Smith recalled that the street got its name because all of the women who lived there were pregnant at the time the County was naming streets. Mary has lived in Franconia all her life, moving to Rose Hill in 1970. Her dad was the first paid fireman at the Franconia Volunteer Fire Department and her mother taught at Franconia School.

Linda McMurray Duer and Anna visited Rose Hill on Thursday, June 14, 2018. They made contact with RHCA through myrosehill.com. Carl Sell and Linda Nichols invited the Duers to visit Linda at her home, not realizing that it would turn out to be the house the visitors were trying to find. The longer everyone compared old pictures with today’s landscapes, the more apparent it became that the search ended right where they were standing. Later on, Connie Beatty interrupted her busy schedule and stopped by to put her seal of approval on what the group had decided. After all, Mrs. Beatty moved to Rose Hill in December 1954 and is therefore the recognized authority on community history.

Linda McMurray moved with her mother, Penny, younger brother, David, and older brother, Randy, to Coldwater, Kansas, in 1958 after her parents, Cecil (Mac) McMurray and Hazel Pennington McMurray, were divorced. Linda McMurray Duer is now a CPA in San Clemente, California. Her daughter lives near Los Angeles. Mac McMurray was a member of the Army signal corps in World War II, and later operated the radar at National Airport.