At the age of 102, on 28th December 2025, Jean Murray went home to be with her Saviour and Lord. It is impossible to adequately sum up her remarkable life but here is just a glimpse of her life so far as it related to the zambesi mission.
Born in 1923, Jean grew up in Croydon, south London and went on to qualify as a nurse and then a midwife in local hospitals.
The late 1950s found Jean working in Cambridgeshire as a peripatetic midwife. There she had a colleague, Con Biart, and they became close sisters in the Lord.
In 1960 Con went to Nyasaland, as it then was, as a missionary with zambesi mission. Jean visited her there for a holiday and Con challenged her to come and work there as there was a great need for medical staff in the mission’s health centres and rural hospital. By this time Jean was working in the Brighton area and going to Holland Road Baptist church. Fairly soon after her return from Africa, the church held a missionary conference and Jean went forward in response to an appeal for people willing to go overseas to serve God.
Jean applied to zm and in 1965 went out to what was then the newly independent nation of Malawi. She was based first at zm’s HQ, called Mitsidi, on the edge of Blantyre, Malawi’s largest town. On the site was a school, church, printing press, offices, health centre and staff accommodation as well as fruit trees and crop growing areas. Whilst Jean loved being involved in everything, she was in greatest demand in the health centre running a day clinic, overseeing a pharmacy, going out to the villages around in a Landrover she bought and of course delivering babies. In emergency, nurses were called upon to do whatever they could, including pulling out teeth without anaesthetic. In 1969 Jean wrote an article for Polished Shaft, zm’s magazine for supporters, about the work with children at Mitsidi – copy attached.
In 1971 the old Mitsidi site was taken over by the President as part of the grounds of his new Palace. So Jean worked with the others to make the move to a new site 3 miles round the hillside a success. Jean wrote an article for Polished Shaft, in December 1971 reflecting on the move – copy attached.
Also based at Mitsidi until 1978 were Gladys and John Simons, an Australian couple and their 3 young children: Jennifer, Gillian and Stephen. The children loved being looked after by “Aunty Jean” and for her to join their family trips to the mountains outside Blantyre – some more reflections from the Simons are below.
Jean spent much of her later years at Ntonda, a mission station in the remote hills towards the Mozambique border where zm ran a rural hospital. From here Jean went out in her trusty Landrover, to support medical work in various health centres around. By this time all the premises, including the churches, had been handed over the Zambesi Evangelical Church and the mission staff increasingly worked alongside Malawians, training them to take full responsibility for their facilities and work.
Jean retired in 1988 (the last missionary nurse to do so) aged 65 and returned to live in Brighton, joining again with her home church, Holland Road Baptist Church. Over these years she shared at church events about her experiences in Malawi to challenge and inspire future generations to share the gospel – just as she has done. As Jean built on the legacy of those who went before her to Africa, so the African believers are now building on her legacy to continue the growth of the Malawian church throughout that beautiful country.
Fond memories of growing up in Malawi as children with Jean Murray
From Jennifer, Gillian and Stephen Simons (children of missionaries John and Gladys Simons), Perth, Western Australia
We have warm memories of ‘Aunty’ Jean Murray who joined ZM 1965. She was a dedicated nurse from Brighton who worked tirelessly in the ZM dispensaries in rural Ntonda and New Mitsidi. She had a real depth of character and great courage while also being very reserved. Accommodation was basic and she made the best of things. Over the years we remember that in two different ZM houses that she lived in, her room opened directly onto the verandah and she had to enter the rest of the house by going outside at all times of day or night. She always had her trusty torch and a calm attitude. After she moved into the duplex at New Mitsidi we realised that leopards where actually frequenting the mission property. She knew that as long as she had her light then her way was safe. She used this analogy many times when speaking about Jesus as the the Light of the World and therefore there is nothing to fear. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path” Psalm 119:105 Jean would read.
Jean Murray was fond of her green Landrover that she purchased. She used it to visit people in the villages; take patients to hospital and Pastors to outlying churches.
’Aunty’ Jean talked fondly of her family and spent time with us (Simons) as part of the family on birthdays, Christmas and outings to Zomba Plateau. She also loved animals and looked after our dog each time we went on furlough to Australia. We left ZM in 1978 and Jean Murray retired back to England in 1988.
