Reverend Gerald Hartley Murphy (STH '55, STH '56)
Rev. Gerald Hartley Murphy (STH ’55, STH ’56), 87, of Meadville died Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014, surrounded by his family at the Marquette Hospice House. He was born Feb. 10, 1927, in Newport, R.I., a son of Michael Martin and Alice Helen Raftery Murphy Sr. He married Mathilda Ruth Cunningham in the Baldwin-Wallace Chapel, Berea, Ohio, June 21, 1956, and she survives.
He grew up in Newport, graduating from its Rogers High School in 1945. He received his bachelor of science degree in business administration in 1949, his bachelor of sacred theology in 1955 and his master’s of sacred theology and social ethics in 1956, all from Boston University. He was ordained into the United Methodist Church in 1956 and served at the North Saugus Union Church, Saugus, Mass., from 1954 to 1956, the Third Street Methodist Church, Williamsport, from 1956 to 1963, Beaver Methodist Church from 1963 to 1966, Harmony-Zelienople United Methodist Church from 1966 to 1972, Fox Chapel United Methodist Church, Pittsburgh, from 1972 to 1985 and chaplain of Wesbury United Methodist Community from 1985 until his retirement in 1995.
He served on many committees of the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church and pioneered a workshop for persons experiencing separation and divorce through the Center for Human Development in Pittsburgh, designed and conducted a workshop on ministering to older adults and a workshop on spiritual dimensions of aging while at Wesbury United Methodist Community. He was a Pastoral Care volunteer at Meadville Medical Center, a member of the Meadville Round Table, the Tuesday Morning Music Group and the Wesleyan Covenant Group of Stone United Methodist Church. In his youth he enjoyed spending summers at the family cottage on the shores of Narragansett Bay in Middletown, R.I., and more recently at the family home in the Chautauqua Institution. He built the family sailboat, JAMMR, in 1971. He also enjoyed the trip to Israel, Paris and Brussels that was a gift from the congregation of Fox Chapel United Methodist Church in 1986 and his 50th wedding anniversary trip to England, Wales and Ireland in 2006. He enjoyed jogging and more recently walking, music, reading, crocheting and singing in the Stone United Methodist Church choir. Survivors, in addition to his wife, Mathilda Ruth, of 58 years, include a daughter, Aimee M. Doershuk and her husband, David, of Streetsboro, Ohio; a son, Michael H. Murphy and his wife, Anne Marie, of Wilmette, Ill.; six grandchildren, Nicholas, Jennifer and Kyle Doershuk and Devin, Bryce and Teagan Murphy; and nieces, nephews and cousins. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a sister, Ellen M. Grauer; a brother, Michael M. Murphy Jr.; and a nephew, Robert M. Grauer.