It is with relieved hearts that we share the passing of our mother, Joan Y Murphy, in Kerrville, Texas on July 6th at the age of 95.

She was predeceased by her parents, Joseph and Josephine York, and brother, Ray. Her husband, Edward Lloyd Murphy Jr., died on March 4, 1988, from ALS, a consequence of his two tours in Vietnam. Her son, Daniel Scott Murphy, suffered a heart attack at the age of 48 after a difficult life ravaged by schizophrenia.

Joan is survived by her two daughters, Pamela Tarver of Southworth, Washington and Eileen Murphy of Helena, Montana who were able to be with her at her passing. She had one grandson, Kaelon Christopher, who resides in Seattle with his wife Heather. During his ''Spring break'' trips to stay with her as a child, Kaelon describes ''Granma Texas'' demonstrating how a rope swing over the Guadalupe worked by launching herself from the riverbank at the age of 70. He recalls being woken to the deafening sound of rifle fire and loud threats in the back yard to ''scare the grackles.''

Joan was born in Depew, Oklahoma on November 24th, 1928. She was the Jitterbug Queen at Oklahoma State in 1948, as well as the Women's Pistol Champion in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1954. She was a dedicated army wife who became adept at packing up her household and three children, moving sometimes thousands of miles every few months/years. She was the perfect ambassador and hostess for the many required social occasions necessary as the CO's wife, a skill she excelled at all her life. Anyone who met her was struck by her acerbic wit and hysterically dry one-liners. She was an extremely talented artist, an Audubon affiliated bird watcher and a trained Texas Naturalist. She loved nature, unabashedly signing up for a weeklong canoe trip down the Green River into Lake Powell for her 60th birthday, volunteering at the Texas History Museum, and leading nature walks through the Hill Country. In her 70's, she worked summers at Estes Park, Colorado as a cashier in the gift shop making $3 an hour plus room and board and took clock repair classes at the age of 92.

She and her husband moved to Comfort in 1972, and she held down the homestead while her husband went on his 2nd Vietnam tour. They bought 20 acres on Holiday Rd. when he returned and she nursed fawns in the kitchen, raised a pair of sheep named Joan and Joan for she and her sister-in-law, multiple chickens, peacocks, dogs, cats, pet pigs, an old white horse and Milky Way the cow. When she was forced to sell after her husband's death in 1988, she moved to a friend's gingerbread farmhouse near the Comfort Airport, requiring a ford through the creek for another 26 years. Then when she was 90, she moved to an apartment in Kerrville ''just in case.'' She spent her fun times travelling extensively, meeting up with friends all over the country.

There will not be an End-of-Life ceremony for Joan, as she is predeceased by most of her friends, but she is now at peace with those that have gone before. If you want to commemorate her life, please make a donation to your favorite animal shelter.

Sign Guestbook>>

1 Condolence(s)