Michael Leo “Mike” Murphy was welcomed through the gates of heaven at 92 years young following a full and active life.
He came into this world in Elma, Washington, the youngest of seven sons born to John Patrick and Gertrude Clara (LaPointe) Murphy. He grew up on the family dairy farm in Brady, just outside Montesano. Mike lost his father when he was an infant. He was raised by his mother and brothers with a strong Catholic faith. With all those brothers, he learned the skill he used all his life of saying the blessing before meals at the speed of light so all the food wasn’t gone before he had a chance to eat. He woke early in the morning to milk the cows before going to the one room schoolhouse in Brady. He graduated from Montesano High School in 1951, where he played football. He lost his mother to cancer his senior year.
Mike attended Grays Harbor College while still working on the farm and supplemented his tuition by driving the bus to and from the college. Mike joined the Navy Reserves, a brave move since he didn’t know how to swim, completing Reserve Seaman Recruit training in San Diego, California on Aug. 30, 1952. He served two years of active duty in the U. S. Navy from Dec. 11, 1953, to Dec. 10, 1955. He was stationed aboard a Destroyer, the USS Rupert, in the South Pacific and saw many countries including Japan, China, and the Philippines. He was a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars for his service during the Korean War.
He married his high school sweetheart, Jo Anne Taylor, in April of 1955 at St. John’s Catholic Church in Montesano while Mike was still in the service. They lived in Long Beach, California while stationed there. Later that year he was honorably discharged and the newlyweds moved to Seattle. Jo Anne worked as a secretary in several law firms while Mike attended Pharmacy School at the University of Washington under the GI Bill. Their first daughter, Colleen, was born in 1956. After graduating with his pharmacy degree, they moved to Bainbridge Island, where he worked in a local drugstore and made lifelong friends. Their daughter, Connie, was born in 1962.
Mike and Jo Anne moved back to Montesano, where he worked at Monte Drug. They welcomed their daughter, Carmella, in 1963, and then their son, Michael Dennis, in 1965. They built their home up on Wilder Hill in Monte in 1969. Mike did much of the work himself, building decks, with his kids “working” alongside him. They purchased City Rexall Drug in Aberdeen, along with the building, where Mike had a long career as an excellent and caring pharmacist and Jo Anne helped with the accounting. For several years he also managed Valu Drug in Montesano. He enjoyed chatting with and helping all his customers over the years and even delivered prescriptions to shut-ins after work. He passed on his work ethic to his kids by putting them to work stocking, straightening shelves, and sweeping, with his daughters also working weekends and summers as clerks.
After their kids left home Mike and Jo Anne started a Bed & Breakfast, Sylvan Haus, in the family home. They delighted in meeting new people and entertaining. Mike and Jo Anne were able to take many enjoyable and memorable trips, including their favorite vacation spot, Wapato Point in Lake Chelan, where family and friends joined them over the years. Jo Anne died in 2002 after a long illness.
Mike joined the Aberdeen Rotary Club and traveled to Africa to dispense Polio vaccinations. He enjoyed experiencing yet another part of the world. A few years later Mike married Roberta “Bobbie” Bryan of Aberdeen. With Bobbie he became an active member of the Elks and the Sons of Norway. Mike sold the drugstore in the early 2000s so they could travel. He kept his pharmacy license active and continued to work as a fill-in pharmacist until he was 85. They honeymooned in Ireland and enjoyed their timeshares in Palm Springs. They had five happy years together enjoying life until he lost her to cancer. Bobbie’s son, Brent and wife Pam Bryan, and his son Brent Junior, have stayed close and continued to be family to Mike.
Mike met Louise Valentine in 2009, with the help of their daughters. In 2012 they were married. Mike and Louise took many warm weather trips including to Tahiti and Mexico and had lots of adventures together. They especially loved Palm Springs and drove there at least twice a year with a car full of “everything but the kitchen sink” so that Louise could make all of Mike’s favorite meals. Their lives were centered around family, enjoying time and visits with all their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They lived life together to the fullest, always entertaining at their home.
Mike enjoyed woodworking as a hobby and had a fully outfitted shop, where over the years he made dressers, a credenza and many beautiful tables, candlestick holders, ornaments and wooden cars and trucks for his family. He also delighted in “riding around the loop,” especially in his big red truck, to see what was happening on the old farm and the neighborhood where he grew up in Brady, watching the tractors and hay balers at work. Mike loved attending football games, especially when his grandkids were playing. He always made a point of attending his kids’ and grandkids’ events whenever he could. Mike also served on the board of Harbors Home Health and Hospice. He influenced the lives of many through his strong work ethic, humbleness and true generosity. He will be remembered and admired by many. He was a constant and consistent presence in his family and friends’ lives. Some of his favorite phrases will continue to make us chuckle such as “horsepucky,” “flush it,” “It will all come out in the wash,” and “Better than a kick in the pants.”
Mike was preceded in death by his parents and his brothers Jack, Joe, Bill, Gene, Jim, and Frances (who died as an infant), as well as his wife Jo Anne, his wife Roberta, his son-in-law Ray Meyers, and recently his mother-in-law Ruth Valentine.
He was loved so much by all. Mike will be greatly missed by his wife, Louise, as they enjoyed life together immensely over these last years; and by his children and their families, with his loss leaving a hole but also a wonderful legacy of how life should be lived.
Family members include: daughter Colleen Meyers, granddaughter Jasmine Burrington and husband Steve, and great-granddaughter Ella; daughter Connie Church and husband Chris, grandsons Taylor Church, Kellen Church and wife Sierra, and great-grandchildren Madilyn and Brayden; daughter Carmella Murphy, grandson Derek Houston and wife Tabitha and great-granddaughter Ziramae, grandson Jurell Houston, grandson Craig Addison Houston and wife Annea and great-granddaughter Irie; son Michael D. Murphy and wife Janell, granddaughter Rachel Taylor and husband Thomas and great-grandchildren Michael, Deryn, Zachary, and Corban, grandson Dawson Murphy and wife Ashley, grandson Graham Murphy and wife Tabi, grandson Caleb Murphy and soon-to-be wife Mary Beth.
Mike’s memory will also live on in the bonus family that Louise brought to him including her daughter Rumona Pehl, granddaughter Baylee Cox and husband D.J. and great-granddaughter Berkeley, grandson Colbey Roble, and granddaughter Alyson Roble; daughter Rugena Peterson and husband Jayson, grandson Austin Peterson and wife Kaitlin, and granddaughter Ashlyn Peterson.
Mike also leaves behind many wonderful lifelong friends, a HUGE Murphy family, attentive neighbors and close extended family members, especially Ken and Marilyn, Tom and Mary, and John and Carol, who filled his last years with daily joy and laughter.
Please join us for a funeral Mass and celebration of Mike’s life at St. John’s Catholic Church in Montesano, where he was baptized and was a faithful parishioner throughout his life, at 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 15th, followed by internment at Wynoochee Cemetery and a luncheon in the church hall at approximately 12:30, where stories about and memories of Mike’s wonderful life of 92 years will be shared.
Arrangements are in the care of Harrison Family Mortuary.
