John Albert Murphy

Seattle, WA on Feb.17, 1922 to Harry and Bertie Barrett Murphy and attended Warren Avenue School, Bryant in Ravenna and was a Roosevelt High School grad.

After painting B-17s at Boeing, he moved to Tenino to his Barrett grandparents place in Cozy Valley. During those years of Saturday night dances at the grange halls, he met Marjorie Nadine Seymour.

This past February they celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary with family at their winter home in Sedona, Arizona, where they enjoyed seventeen winters.

Jack's career was devoted to heavy diesel equipment from operating bull-dozers, becoming a mechanic and on to Caterpillar managerial service. He retired from NC Machinery Co. in Seattle as General Service Manager for Western WA, Alaska and the Yukon Territory, years of adventure during the pipeline building era. Before that, however, were four years of managing equipment at Shafer Brothers Olympic Camp and on to Simpsons Camp Grisdale, making a good place to live with four little ones. The family enjoyed 6 years in Centralia before he was tapped for the advancement to Seattle. His work always led the way with time out for family and salmon fishing trips to Sekiu.

After his retirement in 1977 he and Nadine were able to travel and counted sixteen Elderhostels attended in the US, Mexico, Germany, France and England, Scotland and Wales as well as cruising on a luxury freighter from Buenos Aires to New Orleans. There were several trips to Sweden to Nadine's relatives and visits to families of exchange students in Paris and Barcelona and sites of ancestors.

However, he was destined to two more lines of work, learning to be a tree farmer and taking on restoration of the barn and house on the old Seymour farm and cutting fourteen cords of wood every year for the farmhouse. Jack and Nadine raised their four children who came along one after the other.

Jack is survived by wife Nadine, son John Jr (Carol) of Kennewick, son Thomas (Nancy) of Shoreline, and daughter Margaret (Bill) Mori of Seattle. Daughter Corinne, who became

the first woman WA State Park Ranger, died of cancer in 1976. He is also survived by his sister, Frances Szolas, Olympia, several cousins, nine loving grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren.

Inurnment of his ashes will be at 3 pm, Saturday October 24th at Olympia Odd Fellows cemetery with a 4 pm celebration of his life at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd 1601North St. SE Olympia.

Memorial donations can be made to South Thurston County Historical Society, PO Box 339, Tenino, WA 98589.