Evelyn Murphy

Welcome to my life Growing up!

lynn

“HI Zane and Nova, I see you peeking in and I am so glad! I wish to share with you what my life was like as I grew up and before I met Grandpa! I hope you will find it interesting. I don’t have all the pictures but I do have some which I have carried with me for a long time so let’s get started!”

kids2

In telling my story, I must say that my early years were filled with both joy and heartache. I was one of 5 children, three girls, Patricia (Pat) Barbara (Babs) and myself, Evelyn (Lynn) and two boys, Keith and Bruce. It was a wonderful mix of growing up experiences. Here is a picture that shows who we were back then. Unfortunately it is the only picture that I still have of my father with all of us. The tragedy of it all was that not long after this picture was taken, Dad, John Murphy, split up his marriage with our Mom, Rosalie, and he left her to do her very best on her own in raising us through the years.

Lynn, Keith, Dad, Bruce, Pat, Babs

Fortunately she had the help of relatives, us older girls and good friends to support her through while she did her best.

Lynn, Mom, Pat with friend and Keith

My Mom, Rosalie, was a very attractive lady in her young years as you can see.

murphy12 “I do have some pictures of us children in those early years. Zane and Nova, can you pick me out in some of them? If you click on each one you will get the answers.”

Babs – Pat – Lynn

Lynn – Pat – Babs

Pat-Babs-Lynn-Keith-Bruce

Bruce

Bruce – Keith

Bruce – Babs

Babs – Lynn

Babs

Lynn – Communion

And look here at this tree chart I put together for you. It shows my family as it was when I was growing up. Your Dad will explain to you how you can read the chart. It is called ‘Ancestry’ and a very good thing to learn about as you grow older.

grandma's tree

Ok Zane and Nova, there are a few things I want to point out on the chart for you since they were some very important happenings in my very early life. I highlighted some colors on the chart for you to follow.

The first is the one of my Dad in blue. I only knew him till about age 10 when he decided to ‘walk away’ from all of us leaving ‘Mother’ to care for all of us the best way she could. He left no support or money so Mother was alone in raising us children. It is important that you know this because you have the world’s greatest Dad who is making sure you are well taken care of and enjoy all the good things in life.

Next, you see a violet color for my sister Babs and my cousin Richie Mansfield. You will notice the day they died being the same date in 1958. This was a difficult time for the whole family as having two young people pass away together is a tragic event. The reason that story is here is because it is in your grandma’s memory forever. Richie was a star athlete and died of cancer. My sister Babs was already married to her husband Artie and had little baby Lorraine when she passed away of a rare disease called Lupus. I miss both of them dearly and pray for them often.

Finally, you see in Green, my neice Lorraine Barbara who was the new life which rose out of all this tragedy. She was a beautiful child who was brought up by her grandmother, Mrs. Brule and her dad Artie. More pictures of her you see here.

Folks, there is some good news shown on the chart. Mother had two sisters, Aunt Evelyn, who was my Godmother and Aunt Mary. Also, there was my ‘Nana’ who was still the matriarch of the Lamy family. She was Irish and from Ireland and ‘Grandpa’ Lou was French and from France. They both spoke English with the nice melody sound of their home country accents. Aunts Mary, Evelyn and Nana did very many good and nice things for our family. You will also notice a picture there of our Aunt Agnes and Uncle Bill and Agnes’s two nieces, Emily and Claire. They were not really blood relatives but rather Agnes was Mother’s best friend growing up. However, to all of us, they were considered aunt and uncle since we knew them all the years we were growing up. All these folks were very good to us and often had all of us for nice big Sunday and special event dinners. Aunt Agnes and Uncle Bill were at my wedding to Hubert in 1962. Aunt Mary was always lots of fun to be with and when we all were about to go back to school, she would take us all shopping for new clothes and school supplies.

Now there are also some people not on the chart which are very important to me. Two of Babs and my very best friends, Blanch Malloy and Vini (Diecidue) Tedesco. While I have no picture of Blanche, I do have a card I saved which is for a memorial Mass for Babs after her passing. I do have a recent picture of me and my very best friend ever Vini!

About Lynn’s sister Babs

Vinie’s father, Mr. Diecidue, owned a Fish Store in the neighborhood. They were all a real Italian family as the parents came from Italy and spoke English also with a very Italian accent. Vinie’s two brothers, Charlie and Joey, also worked at the store. As you know, Italian families have large and long Sunday dinners. Mr. Diecidue did all the cooking. I had the good fortune to be an almost regular guest at their Sunday feasts. He ran the best fish market in town and on Fridays, the people lined up to get their fish for the weekend. I first met Vini when I was 5 years old because our family moved into an apartment across the hall from her. She was also 5 and had a patch on her eye because she had surgery on that eye. We both will never forget our meeting. We talk about it often each time we still speak on the phone. We are still great friends to this day. We both wish we could see each other more often. Vini’s family was at our 80th birthday party.

Well you can all imagine with the disruption that happened to Mother’s home what confusion went on for us kids when it came to school attendance. Mother had to work to support the family as best she could until we got old enough to help. Thank to Lord for all the help we got from the relatives and friends in the charts. For a while, we girls went to a good Catholic school in Manhattan called Notre Dame Academy. It is still there, here is a link.===>Notre Dame School Have a look please and also at these pictures. Other places we attended school at times was St. Joseph’s Hill academy, Public School (PS 11) and Bryant HS. It was difficult making school friends under these circumstances but we had each other.

Nova and Zane, find me in the pictures!

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As time went on, we all had to go out and work, joining Mother, to help support the household. The places I worked in their administrative offices were, Bickfords, US Tobacco, and eventually to Crayola Crayons.

Soon it came time for me to move on so I left home and went out on my own. Mother was not pleased! I wound up with a job at International Paper Corp. in their IBM department and found a room mate, a very nice girl, my age, named ‘Madi’ who recently immigrated from Germany. We got along very well and even after I met Hugh, she ccompanied me to Oma and Pop’s for sunday dinner.

Of course the entire world changed for me when I met Hugh at work. He was working at IBM and came often to fix machines at my location. We are both thankful to this day for that chance meeting. Here is a video link to a some vintage 8 mm film of our wedding and honeymoon, preserved for your enjoyment.

Our Wedding and Honeymoon

In order to see my life move on from that point, you will have to move to this link that picks up our lives from this point on.

lynn9

Link===> On to Hubert, Lynn and Chris

Before I close this chapter in my life, I do have a number of pictures of ‘The Murphy’s’ in later lives that are worth sharing. Please enjoy the slide presentation.

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However, my favorite picture is this one take recently here in Florida. Keith lives close and we see each other often. In final analysis, God has been good to me. Hubert and I have lived a wonderful life together and hopefully we still have many more years ahead of us.

murph

For Zane and Nova!

Zane and Nova, special words just for you from Grandma, Do your best every day! Only say kind words about every one you meet. Don’t forget that God is always waiting to hear from you! Talk to him frequently!

Finally!

Mother passed away in 1986 while Hubert and I were living in Germany. Sister Pat took care of all the arrangements. My sister Pat also took the largest share of the family burden because she was the oldest. She passed away in 2017. Both are missed, RIP!