Catherine “Bundles” Murdock is the lady to seek out when paying your cap at Orange County. Be sure to observe proper protocol by enclosing your check in an envelope with your name and address. Ms. Murdock is one field secretary who knows her protocol! / Douglas Lees photoIn a recent article in the Loudoun Times-Mirror, Billie Van Pay wrote, “Almost everyone in horse country knows Catherine ‘Bundles’ C. Murdock, a fourth-generation member of a family well-known for its community leadership and for helping make the area known for its foxhunting.”
Indeed, Murdock is a long-time member of the Middleburg, Virginia community and the Orange County Hounds, serving as honorary secretary, field secretary, and road whip. And “almost everyone in horse country” does know her. But Murdock knows everyone else. Like Barbara and George Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Queen Elizabeth to name a few.
Murdock was born in New York, but Middleburg has always been home. Her grandfather William Philander “Pappy” Hulbert came to Middleburg more than one hundred years ago, and her mother grew up on the family farm, Stonehedge, before her.
Murdock has had a storied life experience in international affairs, starting with her efforts in the Reagan and Bush campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to a variety of jobs she has held through the years in New York, Switzerland, and elsewhere, she’s served as Deputy Chief of Protocol for the U.S. Department of State, and as assistant to the ambassador of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, the Ambassador of the State of Kuwait, and Barbara Bush in the program for spouses of participants in the 1990 U. S. Economic Summit. She has also been a consultant to the Smithsonian Institute on a delegation to Paris, and to the former Minister of Oil of Kuwait, Shiekh Saud Nasir Al-sabah.
While Assistant to the Chief of Protocol for the State Department, Murdock was responsible for arranging Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev’s escort during his visit to the United States—a matter of the highest security. And she accompanied President George H. W. Bush and members of his staff to Kuwait after Desert Storm.
Perhaps Murdock’s favorite assignment was helping arrange two visits for Queen Elizabeth II to the United States. She accompanied the queen on these visits, and was often invited to join the queen’s private parties during the tour.
To give the queen a taste of America, a local restaurant in Wyoming was chosen for a private dinner party. Murdock was invited to sit at the queen’s table, noting that the queen, after examining the menu showing the selection of steaks, chose queen size rather than king size, much to everyone’s amusement.
Click to read the complete article of January 22, 2016 in the Loudoun Times-Mirror.
Posted February 4, 2016