Darlys Murray, 90, of Loomis writes a monthly newsletter filled with her musings on daily life that she sends to almost 200 people around the world. © Sacramento Bee/Florence Low

Art of correspondence gets a 2nd Wind

By Laurel Rosen -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, July 11, 2004 © Sacramento Bee

It's all about the small stuff for Darlys Murray.

In the newsletter the Loomis resident has been writing for more than 30 years, Murray chronicles the stuff of life that goes undocumented by most people:

How to collect her dog's urine when veterinarians think he might have prostate cancer. The clumsiness of raccoons spotted outside her back window.

The nostalgia of putting away Christmas decorations each January. The stray cats who show up to "mooch food" on her back porch. The way the phone seems always to ring just when she sits down on the toilet.

"I just belong to a family that sees things through their funny bone," said Murray, who turned 90 last month.

Murray writes her monthly newsletter, called "2nd Wind," on a computer at home and sends it out to almost 200 people around the world, including readers across the United States and in Germany, Finland, England, Italy, Fiji and Singapore. Most people receive the newsletter by e-mail, she said, but many still receive a hard copy. Copies of old newsletters are on Murray's Web site, www.2ndwind.info.

"Having been born in an age when the answer to a letter to Europe could take as much as two months (by ship), I marvel at rising in the morning to find an e-mail from Finland or Germany, which my friend sent before she went to work," Murray wrote in a 2000 newsletter. "And my answer will be waiting for her when she gets home. The young 'uns can't fully appreciate that."

The newsletter began in 1973 as a correspondence with four friends.

"They were elderly people without family," Murray said. "I was trying to write a letter to each of them once a week."

The individual letters evolved into one letter copied four times on a Xerox machine, Murray said, with a short personal note on each one. Since her recipients were largely house-bound, the letter became an important connection with the outside world.

"Then people would suggest, 'Well, so and so could use it, too,' and it just grew," Murray said. "In 30 years, it's become more or less a type of diary."

Murray has never charged for the newsletter, though she said readers are generous about sending her stamps to cover the expense of postage.

One subscriber is Alice Stipak, a childhood friend of Murray's daughter and the creator of the 2nd Wind Web site.

"She has a pretty normal life, but she can talk about her cats or the neighborhood ... in a very interesting way," said Stipak, who lives near San Jose.

"When we read it, we look at our own life and think, 'My own life is pretty interesting, too. There are so many funny and magical moments.' "

Though the newsletter began as a pick-me-up for elderly people or invalids, it is now read by many who are young and in good health, Murray said. In some cases, she said, the children or grandchildren of the original recipients subscribe to the newsletter. In other cases, readers are overseas pen pals Murray made while collecting stamps.

Her daughter, Colleen Murray (referred to in the online newsletter archives as Beth), said her mother has been a letter writer and a caretaker for as long as she can recall.

"I always remember her keeping in touch with people who she felt needed someone," said Colleen Murray, who lives in Folsom and makes glass wind chimes in a studio in Loomis.

She says her mother's long life is partially due to her involvement in the community. In addition to writing the newsletter, Murray is active in her church - singing in the choir, doing secretarial work and heading the prayer circle. She also is working on a book of writings she describes as "convalescent chuckles" - stories for people recovering from illness or injury.

Recent studies have shown that elderly people who stimulate the brain through social interaction and intellectual activity are far less likely to develop dementia than those who do not exercise their minds.

"Past a certain age, the determining factor is ability to deal with change and staying engaged with life," Colleen Murray said. "(My mother) is an incredible example of that. She's definitely engaged in life, and she's always having fun."

For her part, Murray says she has no plans to stop writing the newsletter.

"I will keep doing it as long as I'm physically and mentally capable," she said. "I don't know how long that gift will be given to me, but I certainly appreciate it."

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2nd Wind excerpts

I did it!!! I am writing at 6:00 A.M., June 28th, 2004. This is the exact minute I am officially a nonagenarian. (You don't need to grab the dictionary. That means I've reached the venerable age of 90.) Somehow, I don't like the sound of "non" ...does that imply a transition into worthlessness? I have news for you. I refuse to conform, which is probably no big surprise to anyone.

- July 2004

In the spring, here in the foothills, the baby frogs tend to climb the outside doors, and when a door is opened, drop inside the house ... unnoticed by me, but not by the cats ... My nimble frog catching days are over, so, unless Beth is home, I may have to be the captive witness to an unhappy end.

- March 2002

My niece, Nyla, and her husband, Bud, who moved to a small ranch after being city dwellers for many years, decided to get goats to help keep down the weeds. Since then, their main occupation has been confining the goats. Never try to outwit a goat. You're born to lose.

- September 1981

The Vet discovered that Barney did, indeed, have a prostate problem, sent him home with medication, AND requested a urine sample. Routine, I suppose, but how would YOU go about collecting a urine sample from a grumpy dog? We nailed a can to a stick. One person was to walk the dog, on leash, and the other to thrust the can at the critical moment.

- January 1974