When Olivia Mackenzie received the call that her mom — 62-year-old Lynn Murray — was inside a grocery store with an active shooter, she raced down from Nederland, driving with a brace on her broken leg amid blowing snow.
“I was just praying that I didn’t crash, break my leg even more and that my mom was alive,” the 24-year-old said.
Mackenzie hoped her mom was a hostage who would make it out of the store where she was working as an Instacart shopper.
Murray was a retired photo director who previously lived in New York and worked for big-name magazines like Glamour, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan.
Tears filling her eyes, Mackenzie said, “My mom was the least deserving person to die this way.”
Mackenzie described her mom as her favorite person.
“She was the most beautiful person I ever met,” Mackenzie said. “She is the warmest, kindest, most positive person.”
Mackenzie said her mom was an artist who could pick up a pen and casually doodle a beautiful drawing. Mackenzie had a brain seizure when she was 8 years old on Mother’s Day, and her mother found her nearly dead.
“She slept with me every night,” Mackenzie said. “We became so close. Her dedication to being a mom was everything.”
Murray is also survived by a son, Pierce, and a husband, John Mackenzie.
Murray grew up in Mentor, Ohio, and attended Ohio University. Mackenzie said her mother was “an amazing cook” who did gig work after retiring. Along with her Instacart job, she also worked for Uber and Lyft.
At Ohio University, Murray was part of the earliest foundation of students in what would become the School of Visual Communication, according to a statement from professor emeritus Terry Eiler.
“Lynn was part of a tight knit group of students that wanted to head to New York City after graduation to chase the world of commercial, advertising and magazine work,” Eiler said. “Lynn had an infectious smile and engaging personality, as many have noted. She also had a work ethic that was extraordinary.
“Once she landed at Conde Nast, I knew she would find her way into leadership. Her talent was great, and her personality was friendly.”
Mackenzie said her mother was “the biggest light in everybody’s life” and would do anything for anybody. “You can’t say anything bad about her.”
