Joan Marie Murphy

Joan was born in Jacksonville, Florida on February 7, 1943, and grew up in Albany, Georgia. It was there that she met Terrance Edward Murphy (Terry) when they were both 19 and he was stationed at a nearby Air Force base. They married and embarked on an adventure in the military together.

Joan loved learning about other cultures. Living in Germany gave her and Terry the opportunity to explore beautiful palaces and castles and to learn about local history and food. Joan was incredibly creative and loved crafts, sewing and crocheting. While living in Japan in the early 1970s she took classes in ikebana, traditional Japanese floral arranging, and kept notebooks filled with drawings and descriptions of each arrangement she made.

One of her greatest passions was genealogy and she assembled a wealth of information about her own family as well as Terry’s, delighting in sharing it with others. Through her research she came into contact with distant relatives and developed many wonderful friendships.

Joan was kind and had a big heart. Her travels gave her an expanded view of the world and an openness to others. She was a loving wife and a wonderful mother and was proud of her children, who were also very proud of her.

Joan was predeceased by her father, William Arthur Hand, Jr., her mother, Carrie Belle (Barry) Hand and her sister, Carrie Joyce (Hand) Tyner.

She is survived by her husband Terry, her son Donald Murphy, her daughter Kathleen Murphy-Sohocki, her sister Sherrie (Hand) Goldbach, her niece Sara Tyner and extended family.