It is with great sadness that Caroline, Elizabeth, Adrienne, John, Frances and Sarah Murphy announce that on December 2, 2014, our mother, Jean, surrounded by her family, slipped away with the light in the late afternoon.
Jean was predeceased by her husband, Frank, in 2003. She is survived by her sisters, Janet Walsh and Joan Simpson, her brother-in-law, Ernie Simpson, her children’s spouses, John Hamilton, Peter Holmgren and Leslie Lee, and her grandchildren Kaleigh, Simone, Robert, Anna, Jacqueline, Rose and Paolo, as well as a large and loving extended family.
Jean was resilient, gracious, and generous. She moved happily through any crowd, composed and engaged. Just as Frank had, and for fifty years alongside him, she left her mark on many communities because she lived in an inclusive and inquiring way, interested in events and people, keen to absorb and discuss. Some of these communities include Point Roberts, her golf club, the Liberals, her bridge groups, her church, Frank’s business colleagues, and her family. Friends of her family members were her friends and her home was always open.
Jean was not one to be fazed by the size or nature of any task. She quietly addressed many challenges as though she did not notice the efforts required. She believed that she had been blessed with singular good fortune throughout her life.
To have had Jean as our mother, and for so many years, was our good fortune. We have been privileged to be guided by her wisdom and compassion and to have received her love.
Please give a smile when you think of her.