Steve Murray
Tippecanoe County's surveyor lost his battle with cancer earlier this week.
| Funeral Arrangements |
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Visitation: Funeral: The Church is located at 1200 Tippecanoe St. in Lafayette, IN |
Steve Murray, 57, had served as surveyor for 10 years and before that as the county's highway director. He will be remembered by friends and co-workers as a dedicated public servant and creative leader.
"He was a very progressive thinker and always wanted to do what's right for this county," Commissioner Tom Murtaugh said. "We were truly lucky to have him serving in this capacity."
Murray was responsible for supervising construction, maintenance and drainage in the county. He first took office in 2000 after a special election to fill the surveyor's seat, and he ran unopposed in 2004 and 2008. During his tenure, Murray received an outstanding county surveyor award in 2002 from the Association of Indiana Counties. He also was awarded outstanding county engineer in 1999. Murray was a Purdue graduate and a registered land surveyor.
Zach Beasley, project manager in the surveyor's office, worked with Murray for more than seven years. Murray, he said, was a very good boss and surveyor. "He always told me when we look at projects and we're designing projects, 'The money we spent on those, I classify that as my own,'" Beasley said. "We want to get the most bang for our buck."
Over the years, Beasley said Murray saved hundreds of thousands of dollars for taxpayers by negotiating good agreements on regional detention facilities. For example, the surveyor would arrange for nearby property owners to take the dirt for fill, rather than the county having to pay for the removal. "The bottom line is he was very good at negotiating deals to benefit numerous parties," Beasley said. "He would work out agreements where everybody basically won."
Bob Hicks, chairman of the Tippecanoe County Republican Party, said Murray was a great public servant and a friend. "My thoughts go out to his family," Hicks said.
Thomas O. Bube
Harrison County Surveyor Tom Bube passed away Saturday morning shortly after 5:00 a.m.
Tom was born in Harrison County in 1940. He recently celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife, Mary. They have one son and three grandchildren.
Tom served five years in the United States Army in Korea and Germany. He worked in maintenance at General Electric for 33 years and later owned The Lunch Box restaurant in New Middletown for about 7 years. Tom was the charter president of the New Middletown Lions Club among his many other community and civic activities.
In 2000, Tom was elected as County Surveyor by the voters of Harrison County. They went on to reelect him overwhelmingly in 2004 and again in 2008. Tom was a hardworking public servant who put many miles on his red pickup truck driving all over the county—“in the field” as he always said—to do survey work. He was a working surveyor that tracked through many fields and woods to help find boundary markers and settle property line disputes for citizens of the county.
Tom was a great Republican and a great public official. But—far more than that and much more importantly—he was a great man, a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and friend.
We will miss him. .
Visitation will be at Beanblossom-Cesar Funeral Home in Corydon on Monday from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., on Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and on Wednesday from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m.
The funeral service will be at the funeral home on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Burial will be at Bethesda Cemetery. Condolences and cards can be sent to: Mrs. Mary Bube 3515 Corydon New Middletown Rd SE Corydon, IN 47112 Please continue to keep the Bube family in your prayers.
The family requests that expressions of sympathy be made to the American Diabetes Association