Bob and Debbie Murray with all six of their grandsons during their once-a-month family dinner at Northridge Country Club. From left to right, the boys are: Jase Cox, Asher Murray, Noah Murray, Miller Wood, Barrett Cox and Cooper Wood.

*Jeff and Kayla with their boys, Miller and Cooper last October while shooting fall family photos. (Photo by Amanda Magness)*

Bob and Kayla are pictured with Nash City Manager Doug Bowers during the EDC Golf Tournament held last year. They are accepting the Small Business Award of the Year on behalf of MTG. (Photo by Natalie Haywood)

For many, their work colleagues become like family – particularly since more waking hours are spent in the work environment than at home. For some, their “work family” and “blood family” are one in the same. Such is the case with a part of the team at one of Texarkana’s most respected local businesses, MTG Engineers & Surveyors (MTG)

Patriarch Herb Murray founded the company. He originally accepted a job offer from Humble Oil and Refining Company for a starting salary of $550 per month. After five years with the Humble Company in Tyler, Texas, and having just received license as a Civil Engineer, Herb and Mary determined they would leave the company, return to Texarkana, work part-time for his father, and establish a consulting engineering firm.

In February of 1962, they made the move and started the firm as Murray Engineering Company, with the first office being a bedroom in their home. Later, a small building was purchased and moved to a location adjacent to his father’s warehouse on Arizona Street in Wake Village. The only work that was immediately forthcoming was surveying jobs. Fortunately, Herb had spent the last two years of his tenure with the Humble Company working with the surveying office which gave him the experience and knowledge to handle office and field surveying work.

Murray Engineering became Murray Thomas and Griffin Inc. (MTG) when it was incorporated on February 2, 1972, with Jerry Griffin and Pete Thomas. Herb’s son, Bob, grew up working at MTG – starting with a survey crew in the summer after third grade. “I was paid $2 per day (which would buy a lot of cokes and candy back then),” he recalled. He graduated with a Civil Engineering degree from Texas A&M University in 1981 and returned to MTG.

Jerry Griffin and Pete Thomas decided to retire in August 2005 at the age of 67 and 68, respectively. Bob praised their vital role in MTG’s success by saying, “Their contribution to the success of MTG was a major factor for over 40 years.”

Bob’s oldest daughter, Kayla, also grew up working at MTG from age 15. “The office has always been a family to me,” Kayla shared. “Mom and Dad remind me when I was 6 or 7 that I drew on the marker board at the office to ‘have fun and be nice, love - your future boss.’ Engineering is like a giant puzzle that you get to put together, but in real life, that real people get to enjoy.” Kayla graduated with a Civil Engineering degree from Texas A&M University in 2005 and returned to MTG. Kayla’s husband, Jeffrey Wood, graduated with a GIS degree from Texas A&M University in 2005 and came to work for MTG, subsequently becoming a licensed Registered Public Surveyor.

Mr. Murray (Herb) taught his son and granddaughter that preparation, hard work, dedication, and a passion for excellence in engineering were foundational for the continued growth of MTG. “He instilled in both of us that you could not just be an ‘engineer’ but rather you had to invest in the community and strive to run MTG based on sound business principles and Christian beliefs,” Bob explained. “Our business philosophy continues based on these guiding principles and beliefs.”

*(below) Three generations of engineers, Herb Murray, Kayla Wood and Bob Murray, in front of MTG’s founders’ wall in 2016.*

Both Bob and Kayla’s love and admiration for Mr. Murray is evident. His example of getting to work well before sunup and working into the evening to ensure that commitments to valued clients were met has carried on with Bob and Kayla whose typical work days begin no later than 5:30 a.m. “Essentially, Herb taught that there are few problems that a 12-hour work day won’t solve,” Bob recalled.

At the memorial services conducted at Herb’s passing in 2017, person after person remarked to various family members about how Herb had helped them or other organizations through the years. Several noted that they’d not be where they were today without Herb’s help. The family, and certainly MTG, continues this legacy of giving back.

Kayla also stressed the importance of Mr. Murray’s commitment to family, stating that “Family comes first!” Bob and Debbie Murray met and married at Texas A&M University in College Station. Their children/grandchildren include Kayla (married to Jeffrey Wood) with grandsons, Cooper and Miller; Lauren (married to Jordan Cox) with grandsons, Jase and Barrett; and Blake (married to Rebecca Schneider) with grandsons, Asher and Noah. All of the children live in Texarkana.

Jeff and Kayla also met during their time at Texas A&M University in College Station. Kayla shared that Cooper already has his own desk at MTG in her office and likes to “work” there after school drawing buildings, hotels, and streets. The legacy continues …

It is also apparent that this father/daughter dynamic duo has immense respect for each other. When asked to describe the other in three words, Bob and Kayla offered the following: Bob about Kayla – Brilliant. Dedicated. Loyal. Kayla about Bob – Wise. Dedicated. Passionate.

*Bob and Debbie with their three children, Kayla, Lauren Cox and Blake Murray in 2015. (Photo by Anita Peek)*

Office dynamics in a family business can be interesting, but the MTG family seems to have created an environment that doesn’t just “work,” it’s “awesome” (in Bob’s words). Kayla added, “It takes a special breed to not only work with your father, grandfather before his passing, and husband. We try really hard to let work be work, but not talk about work once we get home or after hours. I get to see my Dad every day and talk to him. I get to learn from him, firsthand, who learned from his Dad, firsthand. We also have an incredible team at MTG (outside of family) including professional engineer partner, David Williams, two professional engineers, one EIT (engineer-in-training), and one SIT (surveyor-in-training), that keeps us balanced. And in addition, MTG recently acquired an office in Greenville with a professional surveyor and support staff. Our family business would be nothing without the entire team of folks that make up our work family.”

The MTG family’s philosophy of sound business principles and Christian beliefs is possibly best summed up in Bob’s words about his favorite scripture – “All that I am or have was received by God’s grace. It is only appropriate that I should walk in that grace toward others and toward myself.”

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.

Colossians 2:6

Feature Stories

A Legacy of Giving Back