Gene Murphy

My mother told me frequently during my visits with her in recent years that she has enjoyed a wonderful and satisfying life, BUT, she would say with emphasis, it was NOT her doing but the Lord's. She lived her life to the glory of God and offered her praise to him for providing her with a life she could look back on and feel that hers was a life with unexpected opportunities. And many of those opportunities were happily fulfilled. She spoke with joy about seeing much of the United States and the world, including Expo67 in Montreal, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Mexico, Ireland, Europe, and the Mediterranean.

Gene was born to Anna and Simeon Russell on February 6, 1932 in Cincinnati, Ohio and was Baptized in March. Her sister Emily was born a few years earlier and Gene became the middle child when her younger brother, Jack was born a few years later. Gene's confirmation took place on Palm Sunday, March 25 in 1945. She attended Withrow High School, graduating in 1949 with fellow classmate, Allen Murphy, Jr. She and Allen did some long distance dating through college as he would visit her at Valpo and she would travel to Kenyon College to see him. Gene was active in her youth as a member of her church's Walther League. She said that the Walther League was very important in her life, providing most of her social contacts at the time. Her scrapbook from that era was appreciated by church historians when she donated the scrapbook to the church archives 60 years later. After graduating from Valparaiso University in 1953, she married Allen on September 5, 1953.

Gene followed her new husband in the US Navy where Allen successfully completed Officer Candidate School and was shipped to the west coast. Gene served as the faithful Navy wife, raising their first two babies born in California between Allen's various Pacific tours. She became friends with many of the Navy wives as they helped each other through their husbands' absences.

Upon Allen's release from active duty in the Navy, the young family made their way back to Ohio where Allen eventually became a university instructor and professor, earning his master's and PhD degrees. Although Gene downplays it, all of us know, and Allen certainly gave her credit, for being the bulwark of his support and encouragement through the many years he built his career. Gene was also the bulwark of the growing family as they added two more children to the family and raised the four of them in North Canton, Columbus, Alliance, and Fairborn, Ohio. Gene was active with her churches in each town as she maintained faithful involvement with each one.

Upon moving to Franklin, Indiana, Gene and Allen and family were instrumental in helping grow a new mission for the church as Good Shepherd Lutheran expanded from a few families in an upstairs room over a downtown storefront to their own new church building some years later.

Gene and Allen enjoyed working for more than 6 years as missionaries in Venezuela, where they served the growing LCMS mission there. It was quite an adventure as they dealt with the lifestyle of an urban mission in the large city of Caracas. Their insurance company required 3 means of locking their car beyond the standard door locks. They had to disable the alarm, remove the wheel lock and reconnect the electrical system, as well as unlock the doors, each time they used their vehicle. The tropical environment provided its own excitement as the wet season downpours once created a mudslide that took out a retaining wall and crushed a neighbor's car. Another mudslide washed several tons of mud from under their apartment building. My parents spent that night in the mission office to avoid the possible collapse of their building. My Dad, always the conservative, careful driver found that his counterparts on the roads of Caracas drove rather rapidly using hand signals and horns to minimize the common collisions. Gene found adventure in traffic as she had to actively secure herself in her seat with the belt and overhead handle as my father adapted and assimilated himself to driving like the locals. Gene's sister once said “I think he enjoys it!”

In contrast to the challenges of the environment, Mother found the people to be very friendly and warm, especially as she expanded her use of their language and tried to communicate in Spanish. The Sweet Adelines in Caracas provided camaraderie and happiness for Gene. One of her most enjoyable adventures was when she traveled west to the city of Barquisimeto, Venezuela to help a mission group spend a week renovating a house to serve as a new church. Mother's college roommate, Dorcas, was a member of that group and they enjoyed a wonderful week serving the Lord together.

This sense of mission grew with Gene and Allen when they moved back to Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania and they joined forces with a small and industrious group to found the Family of Christ Lutheran Church. It was in Bloomsburg with Family of Christ that Gene encouraged and supported Allen in his leadership of the mission church and his quest towards ordination through the DELTO program. He said many times that Family of Christ was successful in service to the community of Bloomsburg due in great part to Gene's efforts and dedication. As I feel her looking over my shoulder, I can hear her require me to acknowledge the efforts of all the other Family of Christ members.

Through the years and across these various congregations, Gene remained highly enthusiastic and always active with the local and regional LWML societies. When signers for the deaf were not available at an Ohio District LWML convention, she wrote notes so the deaf members could participate in the meeting. As we know, the “church” is not the building or facility but it is the people who are the church. Gene was happiest when serving those people. Whether babysitting for the young missionary families in Caracas, Venezuela or taking the notes as secretary of the Atonement LWML, my mother relished her opportunities to serve.

Gene was a testament to faith when Allen was finally called home to Christ in 2002 and she led the family in supporting Allen through his final illness. She gave credit to her friends for their support and they know she was instrumental in her care for Allen as she worked through her grief during the year of his cancerous brain tumor.

Wonderfully, Gene's service to church, community and family was evidenced in the celebration of her 75th birthday. Family and friends traveled from as far away as Nagoya, Japan to recognize her life of service to others. Gene was her usual self as her major concern was how everyone else was getting along and enjoying the event.

She told me a story about a time one Christmas where she visited a shut-in woman amputee who lived alone. Mother left the visit excited and joyous about how the woman helped Mother improve her perspective on life in general and Christmas in particular. Not once did Gene comment or even mention the fact that her visit was a wonderful service to the shut-in lady. Similarly, when Bill & Karen Cole returned to Columbus after their devastating motorcycle accident, Mother swapped stories with Bill while he was in rehab and commented on how thankful she was to know such a kind and generous man of God. It didn't occur to her that she may have provided significant inspiration to him as she took time from her battle against cancer to encourage him in his own fight to regain something of a normal life. And that's how Mother lived her life, serving and sharing her life, enjoying the community with others yet not acknowledging the effort and joy she brought to them.

Mother asked me recently, “We did have lots of fun, didn’t we?” Of course, the story many of us recall took place while she was in college at Valparaiso University. Apparently, the fraternity guys were driving their fire truck around the girls' dorm and Gene wanted to share the excitement with her roommate at the other end of the hall. In her effort to include her roommate before the firetruck drove out of sight, she ran quickly down the hall. If you believe my Dad, she was looking for more excitement and pulled the fire alarm as she ran past it. If you believe my Mom, the sleeve of her nightgown inadvertently and inexplicably caught the fire alarm and the pesky thing started clanging away, clearing everyone out of the building until the authorities determined the alarm was, in fact, a false alarm. Until this moment, the public never knew that it was my Mother who was guilty of pulling the alarm. This story provided numerous opportunities for family fun and leg pulling over the years.

A story she enjoyed repeating much more than the fire alarm was about our first family camping trip. We had borrowed tents from friends and set them up on a small bluff maybe 6 feet above the shoreline of the cranberry bogs. All of us were new to camping on this trip, so our terminology was rather suburban. When my brother wanted to share with the family that he had found a frog at the bottom of the hill, he spoke the phrase that always brought a smile and chuckle to my Mother. Russell's famous phrase was “Come downstairs and look at the turtle.”

In her later years, her greatest joy came from helping her grandchildren and participating in the weddings and lives of her adopted grandchildren, the missionary children of Venezuela. Mother contributed her guidance, support and love to all her grandchildren as they moved into their independent lives as students and adults. Gene was so proud of Allen, Paul, Brianna, Emilee, and Patrick as they each moved beyond high school and pleased her with their activities in college, job and life as young adults. Mother told many of us that she was thrilled to become a great grandmother when Avery Mae was born to Paul and Kelsey.

Gene lived her life to the glory of God and we offer praise and thanks to him for providing her with a happy, fulfilled life. And we are truly blessed to have spent much of our lives with her.

Mother told me she was guided through her life by so many mentors, friends and relatives. She felt greatly blessed by the amazing provisions of her Lord.

A Graveside Service will be December 3, 2015 at 11am at Elan Memorial Park 5595 Old Berwick Rd. Bloomsburg, PA 17815. (570) 784-7470

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to:
Atonement Lutheran Church
Women of Atonement LWML (on check memo)
1621 Franciso Road Columbus, Ohio 43220