Veteran News Journal reporter and Lewes resident Molly Murray died July 17, because of pancreatitis. She was 61.

Chuck Snyder, longtime News Journal photographer and Rehoboth resident, said he had been getting updates through most of the night. He said when he went to bed, the last he knew, she was in stable condition. When he woke up July 17, there was a text saying she had died.

"I was like, 'Oh my God.' We lost a great newspaper person, and I lost a dear friend," he said. "Molly was always so upbeat. She was such a likable person."

Murray was a Delaware native best known for her stories on beaches, the environment and conservation.

Murray started with the News Journal in 1980 as a government and court reporter covering Cecil County, Md. During her tenure, she also covered Dover and Kent County, downstate schools, and local and county government in Sussex County.

A 1974 graduate of Dover High School, Murray had a bachelor's degree in English from Arcadia University and a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University.

Snyder said he was always happy to hear he'd been assigned to a story Murray was working on. She knew the area and the people, he said. Nothing really troubled her, he said.

Snyder is a member of the Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Company. He said he and Murray covered many storms together over the years.

"She'd hop in the fire truck, and we'd go down to see the flooding at the inlet," he said. "On our way, we'd talk about our kids."

Tony Pratt, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's administrator of the Shoreline and Waterways Management Section, said most of his experience with Murray was during coastal storms. She loved being out in the storms, in the wind and the rain, he said.

"She might have had a body weight of 97 pounds, but during storms she'd be out there in the wind and rain," he said. "She had the tenacity of a sailor. She'd head straight for the wave and wasn't afraid to get hit in the face. She was energized by it."

Pratt said he grew to look forward to calls from Murray. The number one thing, said Pratt, was her inquisitiveness.

"Her thinking was deep, and we'd really get into subjects she was interested in," he said.

Suzanne Thurman, Marine Education, Research & Rehabilitation Institute executive director, said she had known Murray since the 1990s and was heartbroken to hear the news. Describing Murray as a pioneer, Thurman said Murray worked in a field, journalism, and reported on another, environmental issues, that are predominantly male – especially, she continued, when Murray would have started her career.

Thurman said Murray was always paying attention to what being said, and had a knack for picking up on the smallest comment and pursuing that information.

“She was so savvy,” Thurman said.

Thurman praised Murray for her accuracy on stories and for wanting to educate people on environmental issues that affect them.

As an educator, Thurman said it meant so much that Murray was trying tell people the issues as they were happening. “She had such integrity in her writing,” Thurman said.

Chris Bason, Center for the Inland Bays executive director, said Murray was so knowledgeable on subjects that he considered her a fellow scientist.

“She kept abreast of issues as much as I did, oftentimes more,” he said, with a small self-deprecating chuckle. “I always knew I was talking to a professional.”

Bason said beyond the environment and conservation issues, the two shared a connection because their families had neighboring farms near Dover.

“It always felt like I was talking to a friend,” he said.

Reporting on the environment often means getting dirty, wet or both, and, said Bason, Murray loved every minute of it.

“I don’t think she ever got tired of being out in the field,” he said. “She was always in awe of all that was nature, and its power never escaped her.”

Murray is survived by her daughter, Halie Emerson Murray-Davis of Lewes; longtime partner, Glenn Robert "Rob" Davis, of Lewes; parents, Thomas and Nancy Murray of Dover; and brother, John Murray and his wife Debbie of Dover.

Funeral services will be held 12:30 p.m., Saturday, July 22, at the Presbyterian Church of Dover, 54 S. State Street, Dover, DE 19901. Friends may call from 11 a.m. to service time. Interment will be in the Old Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Dover, to follow the service.