Donations for Jordan ranch family rise to nearly $225,000

From all over the country, monetary support continues to flood in for the family of a Jordan-area rancher who died last month.

Anne Miller, a family friend who helped organize an online fundraiser for the family of Owen Murnion, 38, who was crushed to death while unloading farm equipment in Jordan on Feb. 12, said donations had reached almost $225,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.

The total was an estimate because a benefit auction for the Murnion family at the Miles City Livestock Commission had just concluded a little before 4 p.m., and receipts were still being tallied. Miller said the rough total from the Miles City benefit was $45,000.

The rest of the money came from donations to the GoFundMe page Miller established and cash donations being collected for the family at the Garfield County Bank.

“We’ve had mail pouring in from every corner of the U.S., largely from farm families and the ag community,” Miller said. “It’s like one giant family swooped in to help.”

Murnion left behind his wife, Briana, and seven young daughters. The latest update on the GoFundMe page said Briana had been searching for a way to “properly begin to thank so many people for their strength and compassion.”

As a result, it continued, she consented to be interviewed at her home by KTVQ-2 news anchor Simone DeAlba, who has been covering the story for the Billings television station. The interview was scheduled to air on Q2 today at 5:30 and 10 p.m. and at 5:30 a.m. and noon on Wednesday.

You can always go directly to the KTVQ website to watch archived features.

The fundraiser at the Miles City Livestock Auction took place during a regular livestock sale Tuesday. Donated items were auctioned off and a calf donated by the auction yard was sold in a “rollover” sale, in which the calf was sold to the highest bidder, who then donated it back for another sale, and so on, as long as there was buyer interest.

For the auction, people ended up donating 56 items, including multiple heads of cattle, sides of beef, tons of feed, minerals and supplements, semi-loads of hay, original artwork, jewelry and a variety of gift certificates.

Miller said the owners of the Miles City Livestock Auction, Bart and Misty Meged, gave a lot of their time to the effort because they “have taken a really personal interest in this.”

Family and friends have been amazed to find that mail-in donations, which they expected to taper off, have only been increasing and are still coming in.

“We’re out of words, basically,” Miller said. “There’s really nothing we can say.”

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