Hi, thank you for stopping by – we’re your neighbors Newell and Pam McMurtry . We are excited to get to know you; here’s our contact information.
Newell and Pam McMurtry
813 Cherry Lane
Smithville, MO, 64089
Our website for McMurtry Creative Media is is www.mcreativem.com
This is our backstory:
Gene Newell McMurtry
Newell was born in the early 1950s to Gene and Joyce Newell McMurtry in Holly Colorado, a tiny town on the border of Kansas where his family had a cattle ranch. To support his growing family, Gene returned to college (Purdue) and became a professor of agriculture. His first job was at Virginia Tech, and they settled in Blacksburg, VA. Newell grew up with his 4 younger brothers and sisters there, explored caves, and enjoyed the beautiful Appalachian area. He attended VT where he earned a B.S. degree in Biology. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a mission in Munich Germany in the early 1970s. While he was in Germany, his Dad took a job at UMass Amherst and the family moved to Massachusetts. Newell met and married Dana at BYU in Utah and because of his Dad’s fight with cancer, they moved back to Massachusetts to help his family. His first son Karl was born in Massachusetts. He joined the Army Reserves and earned a M.S. in Human Nutrition. His son Dylan was born years later in Bakersfield, CA where he had taken a job. He recently retired after a successful career as a Registered Dietitian, Certified Diabetic Educator and a nutrition teacher at Taft College.
Newell writes science fiction, has had a book published, Commodore Farmer .
Also a self-published anthology called Night Clinic.
Pamela Layton McMurtry
Pam was born to Larry and Nixon Roberts Layton in Los Angeles, CA where Larry was studying at USC on the G.I. Bill in the late 1950’s. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education and took a job in Oceanside, CA as a teacher, then principal. Pam grew up on the beach in Carlsbad, CA with her younger sister and brother. After she graduated from high school , she married Bill and they became the parents of William, Laurel, Heather and Andrew, all born in Oceanside, CA. Pam attended school, worked in gourmet catering and wedding design and earned a B.F.A. with emphasis in art teaching from the University of Utah.
Pam writes nonfiction and children’s literature and self-published A Harvest and Halloween Handbook on Amazon and BN.com.
Also A Mermade’s Tale for children. She has also published 60 articles in print and online media and has been featured as the “Holiday Diva” on 16 BYU Sirius XM Radio 143 broadcasts. She has also made public art and taught art classes from grades K- college.
When Pam and Newell were single parents living in Bakersfield, CA, they met at a church dance and after dating for a while, decided to blend their families. They had one more son named Tim and had seven children altogether.
This is an old photo; now they are grandparents of 15!
Our Ties to Missouri
Pam’s great…great grandparents Elizabeth Duncan and her husband Samuel Porter were American Revolutionary War heroes in Virginia/Kentucky. They eventually moved with their children to Independence, MO where she died and was buried in 1845. Pam’s great great grandmother, Sarah Jane Porter was born in Lee’s Summit in 1844. Pam’s granddaddy George William Roberts was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1914.
We are excited to be here in the Heartland and look forward to living near and serving you our new neighbors. We have started a writer’s group that meets in our home the first Friday of the month. If you are published, experienced or are new in the journey and would like tips and advice, join us! Text Pam and she will add you to our text chain. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Newell is an experienced genealogist; if you would like to search your family roots he can help you. We have discovered many exciting people and relationships in our family history and even went to Europe to see some of the places our ancestors built, their communities and traditions.
If we’re not here we’re probably with our grandchildren or at the lake or the beach (or wishing we were ;)) Call or text if you need anything.
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