Murray is on the left and his brother Hayden is on the right behind the counter at Marbecks Records. This is appropriate because so many Aucklanders will remember them like this. I was incredibly fortunate in 1979 when I asked Roger for a holiday job helping out in the 'popular' shop opposite the 'classics' shop in the Queen's Arcade (Auckland) and he said yes (was he nuts? This was like handing over the keys of the asylum to a lunatic - I was in hog heaven!). Murray and Hayden and Roger were just terrific to work with and for. I loved it and Roger was generous - each University holiday for the next three years I was back in heaven. It was tough calling Mr Marbeck - Murray (Hayden was easy by comparison) - because he had a different presence to Hayden. I always thought of him as a kind of Sir George Martin figure. Gentle, intelligent, kind, worldy, someone to respect completely (Hayden was like the impish favourite uncle to us all). My mother, who knew Murray when she worked at the record bar at Lewis Eddy's in Queen Street in the 1950s, always referred to him as Mr Marbeck. Murray and I had a few things in common - he was proud of being a Mt Albert Grammar Old Boy (as we all are) and he even had done a stint as a teacher there. He loved music unreservedly (although he may have had a stance on gangsta rap I don't know about). And he loved sharing his vast knowledge - he was a teacher!
He lived a wonderful life and he brought up (with Ailsa) two wonderful people. He leaves us the better for knowing him! May music always be in our hearts.
Love and peace - W
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