Paul Murphy • 1919 - 2010

Paul Murphy, 91, lifelong resident of Minot, died Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010, at a Minot nursing home. He had been a resident there briefly after suffering a series of health problems.

He was born in Williston, ND, on June 30, 1919, a son of Thomas B. Murphy and Grace (McKone) Murphy. That same year the family moved to Minot where he had lived since.

He grew up in Minot's old South Hill neighborhood along with six brothers and sisters in a house that remained in the family until 1963. It served as the base of their childhood pranks, their emergence into teenagers, and their point of departure as adults. Paul was the middle son in this Irish brood, the quiet one among this gregarious, fun-loving clan. He attended Minot schools, graduating from Minot High School in 1938.

At an early age he began a life of service, first with the Civilian Conservation Corps, a public works program developed for unemployed youth in the 1930s during the Depression. At age 14 during the summer months, he hitchhiked from Minot to Bismarck to perform his assigned duties. He was given the five dollar train fare to get to Bismarck to perform his assigned duties, but chose instead to hitch hike, thereby pocketing the $5 and starting his lifelong habit of thrift.

After high school, he attended Minot State University and later went into railroad work, first with the Soo Line and then with the Great Northern Railway, where he learned telegraph signals. When he was drafted into the Army in 1941 at the onset of World War II, he wound up in the Army Signal Corps. He served in the states, in the Panama Canal Zone and on the Galapagos Islands. He wound up with malaria and a near-fatal jungle disease from which he recovered. He was discharged from active duty with the rank of sergeant, but remained in the Army Reserves. He returned to Minot where he resumed work with the Great Northern.

On June 2, 1949, he married Mary Jane Tourville. They continued to make their home in Minot. After the start of the Korean War, he was recalled to active duty as a sergeant first class. His service was at Camp McKoy, WI, and Fort Monmouth, NJ. His wife was able to join him, and they remained there until his discharge two years later.

Back in Minot, he returned again to work at the Great Northern. Around 1954, Dr. John Ayash, founder of the Minot Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat Clinic, asked Paul to come work for him as an optician. He continued there in that capacity until his retirement in 1984. A year or two later, he became employed at Thompson-Larson Funeral Home in Minot. He worked there until retiring at age 87. He may have been the most proud of that job. It helped extend his active life, and he performed countless tasks for the funeral home. He never allowed social functions to interfere with calls by the funeral home to come in for work.
          
Work--a paying job--remained important to Paul throughout his life. He saw work as a duty. It ranked right up there with duty to God, family, and country. When he was not working at his jobs, he worked at home, tending his yard and repairing things. His old skills as a radio corpsman served him well. He built their first television set when television was still a young medium. He was a sort-of amateur plumber and electrician. He helped his neighbors. He and his wife took a number of trips together, including a cruise through the Panama Canal where he had served during World War II. They also traveled with their daughter and family, and there were many Murphy family reunions they were part of.
          
His only real hobby was his family, whom he tended with unceasing devotion, patience and support. He doted on his two grandchildren, giving each a car at high school graduation and helping to support them through college.
          
He was a lifelong member of the Catholic faith, and had been a member of St. John the Apostle Parish in Minot for many years.
          
Surviving, are his wife, Mary Jane; his daughter, Paula Jeffrey and her husband, Michael, Williston; his granddaughter, Sarah Jeffrey, Minneapolis, MN, and grandson, Aaron Jeffrey, St. Cloud, MN; brother, Louis Murphy, Seattle, WA; sisters, Mitzi Rohen, Lake Oswego, OR, and Grace Fisher, Minot; 26 nieces and nephews and a number of great nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers, Frank and Tom, and a sister, Helen Lemke.
           
Funeral: Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010, , 10:30 am at St. John the Apostle Catholic Church.

Burial: Rosehill Memorial Park, Minot.
           
Visitation and Vigil Service: Monday, Oct. 4, from noon to 7 p.m. with a prayer service at 7 p.m.  at Thompson-Larson Funeral Home, Minot.
          
Memorials may be made to the donor's choice.

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