Stephen (Steve) Joseph Murphy was born on June 16, 1916 and died at 67 on February 8, 1984 of his second heart attack.
STEVE MURPHY’S PARENTS THOMAS PATRICK MURPHY AND SARAH TERESA COSTELLOE
Steve was the son of Thomas Patrick Murphy who was born in Ireland and died on January 2, 1939 when Steve 32. Thomas arrived in New York on April 8, 1897. I believe he was a brick mason and that he died in a pub brawl. His mother, Sarah Teresa Costello (Murphy) who was born in Country Galloway, Ireland, died on March 17, 1956. The couple was married on December 9, 1906 in Arlington, Massachusetts and had nine children. They lived at 51 Webster Street in Somerville, Massachusetts. After Thomas died, Sarah lived in the first or second story of a triple-decker in Somerville with her daughter Margaret. When she came to visit Steve and Millie, she helped plow the garden and loved holding baby Michael.
STEVE MURPHY’S PATERNAL GRANDPARENTS PATRICK MURPHY AND ELLEN GLYNN
Steve’s paternal grandfather was Patrick Murphy, born in 1846 in Kilroghter, Galway, Ireland. Patrick’s father was Michael Murphy. Patrick Murphy married Ellen Glynn, who died when she was fifty. The couple had nine children between 1865 and 1885. Patrick died in 1901 in Galway, Ireland at the age of fifty-five.
STEVE MURPHY’S SIBLINGS
John Paul Murphy (Black Jack), born in 1907, became a police officer in Cambridge and married Helen Sullivan; they had two sons and two daughters. His reputation was one of being a black sheep. He died in 1983 at seventy-six.
Helen Theresa Murphy (born in 1908) died in 1946 when she was thirty-eight.
Tucker (Thomas Lawrence Murphy was born in 1911 and married Katherine Ann (Kitsy). He shared with Steve, Stephen, and Devon a family trait of a grey patch of hair. He died on June 27, 1992.
Sarah E. Murphy was born in 1913 and died on August 19, 1914 within a year of her birth.
Stephen Joseph Murphy was born in 1916 and died in 1984 when he was sixty-seven. With his wife Millie Rice, they had two sons: Michael James Murphy and Stephen Vincent Murphy.
Vincent Michael Murphy was born in 1918 and died in 1958 at thirty-nine. He married Catherine B. Callahan and they had two sons and one daughter.
Margaret Mary Murphy, born in 1920, married Frank DeCaro, and they had a daughter Julie Caruso who married Angel, a daughter Margie and two sons, Frank (Francis) and Joe.
Mary Murphy, born in 1923, died in 1998 when she was seventy-five. She had two sons and three daughters.
LawrenceMurphy, born in 1925, died at twnenty-four of rheumatic fever in 1950 a month before Steve and Millie got married.
Steve had a cousin, Sister Florita, who was a nun either in the Southwest or Mexico, and she used to correspond with Cathy.
STEVE’S EDUCATION AND FIRST JOB In 1933, he lived at 51 Webster Street in Somerville. After graduating from Somerville High School, Steve Murphy worked at the First National Bakery in Somerville, Massachusetts from 1934 until 1942.
STEVE MURPHY’S NAVAL CAREER When Steve lived at 15 Everett Ave in Somerville, Massachusetts, he enlisted in the navy on March 12, 1942 as a baker on a landing craft and served in the Pacific Arena. The ship traveled from Pittsburg to New Orleans, then to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, then the port of Panama where crew could go ashore. At Pago Pago they encountered their first native South Sea Islanders. The USS LST 746 traveled 29,320 miles between June 3, 1944 to June 3, 1945. It carried 3,264 troops and 756 vehicles. It visited the following ports: Guantanamo, Cuba, Panama, Canal Zone, Tutuila Island, Samoa Islands, Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands, Netherlands in New Guinea, Biak Island in the Shouten Islands, Loyte Island and Samar Island, Mindoro Island, Luzon Island and Palawan Island in the Philippines, Morotai Island in the Halamahera Group, Mindanao Island in the Philippines, and Mandated, New Guinea. They crossed the equator on August 1 and had their first liberty on August 18th. In September, the entire port side living compartments and holds were converted for future hospitalization with operating rooms. After that, it was designated as a hospital ship. They experienced their first air raids in October. On October 27, they took aboard their first mass group of causalities and witnessed their first burials at sea. On December 15, twelve enemy planes attacked. The crew helped carried bombs on an island in the Philippines. Steve was wiry and slender and never weighed more than 135 pounds. He served on the USS LST 746. He completed the Commissary Stewards School course of study in February, 1944 at the U.S. Naval Training Station in San Diego, California. He was honorably discharged from the USN Personnel Separation Center, Sampson, New York as Chief Commissary Steward on October 30, 1945. He received the Asiatic Pacific 1 Star, the Philippine Liberation 1 Star, and a Good Conduct Medal. His total payout was $694, and he was given $20.50 for travel costs. From the Governor of Massachusetts, he was presented a testimonial of esteem and gratitude for faithful performance of Duties in World War II.
STEVE MURPHY’S MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN In 1945 Steve returned to the First National Bakery in Somerville, Massachusetts. Steve met Millie Anna Rice at the bakery where he was a manager, and she worked on the line. He was thirty-five and ten years older. On their first date, he took her out for lobster, which she had never eaten, so she met up with a friend earlier to practice. Steve and Millie married on November 3, 1950 – a small civil service. Millie was twenty-six and Steve was thirty-six. On Steve’s side, only his mother, Sarah Murphy, attended since the Murphys were Catholics, and Millie was a Protestant. For their honeymoon, they went to New York City, stayed at the Statler Hotel, and saw some Broadway shows. Steve encouraged Millie to get her GED.
Their first son, Michael James Murphy, was born on July 31, 1951, and their second son, Stephen Vincent Murphy, was born on March 11, 1958. Sadly, Millie miscarried five times between their two sons.
Steve looked very dapper in a cap. His heavy drinking was problematic for the family. His heavy smoking probably contributed to his heart attack. A slow eater, he savored his meals. Steve worked hard and demanded hard work from his employees. Both Michael and Stephen had summer jobs at bakeries.
STEVE MURPHY’S BAKERY CAREER Steve and Millie moved to Cape Elizabeth, Maine, where Steve again worked at First National Bakery from 1950-1956 in Portland, Maine. He preferred that Millie not work, so at times she would sneak out to do housework to earn extra money. He relocated again to the Somerville branch of the First National Bakery from 1956 to 1968, and then he returned to the Nissen Bakery in Portland, Maine from 1968 to 1971. Then they relocated to Stoneman, Massachusetts again, and Steve worked in Smithfield Rhode Island for the Arnold Bakery.
After World War II, Steve and Millie bought a house on the GI Bill and with help from his bakery, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine near the ocean, next to Betty Davis and Gary Merrell and a farmer who helped Millie plant a big garden. They lived near Carl (Cullie) and Anna Wingren, who taught Michael to cook. They were also friends with Barbara and Jack Arnaldo, Bill and Marion MaCarthur, and Sue and Frank Noyce. Gary Noyce was like a third son. Often Frank Noyce came to the house and play music with his Barbara Shop Quartet. One time after a party, a friend put up signs saying that the Murphy’s were offering free breakfasts, so lots of strangers showed up.
Next, Steve, Millie and their sons Michael and Stephen moved to Stoneham, Massachusetts to 3 DeWitt Road across the street from Tom and Doris Corcoran. They moved in 1972 to Portland, Maine, and lived in a two-story home on Gleckler Road. In 1976, they returned to Stoneham, Massachusetts, and bought a home on 10 Randolph Road with a lovely back yard where Millie had a rock garden and tended flower gardens.
Steve joined Seiler’s in 1974 and for ten years managed the English Muffin and Bakery Departments of the consumer Products Division. “Steve’s considerable management and baking skills over a long and distinguished career with First National Stores, Arnold’s and John J Nissen Baking Company before coming to Seiler’s were the catalyst that made possible the transition from frozen food manufacturing to high volume, premium quality bakery operations. To many, Steve was simply an “all business” baker with flour dust on his shoes and notes written on his baking hat. Those who were privileged to work for him and with him, will remember him best for the lessons he taught each day about how to live our lives and conduct our business with dedication and dignity.” Steve managed bakeries, was a tough but fair boss, understood every aspect of the business, and was well liked by his employees. Sadly, he was fired after 34 years at the bakery in Portland due to a take-over so he didn’t get retirement benefits since you had to be there thirty-five years, but he did get benefits after nine years at the final bakery where he worked. When he was working at the First National Stores bakery in Somerville, Massachusetts, Steve was elected as vice president of the Bakers Educational Group of New England during the 1960-61 term. The next year Steve was elected president and stayed very involved. For another group he was the chairman. On August 31,1969, Steve received a certificate from the American Society of Bakery Engineers showing that he had complied with the provisions of the constitution of the American Society of Bakery Engineer and was certified to be member of the society.
Steve took Michael on a huge yacht owned by a friend, and they got to go out on a cruise. Steve never baked at home.
STEVE AND MILLIE MURPHY’S FRIENDS Their good friends in Stoneham were Tom and Doris Corcoran, Louise and Bob Dole, Lil and Adam Bushman, and Donna Broderick’s family. Many Sundays they enjoyed outings at the beach in Gloucester. hey loved to go to parties where they dressed us up according to themes like Hawaiian or Roaring Twenties. They also played golf and enjoyed going to the golf club. Steve and five others were the Purpoodock Twi Winners in a golf tournament.
Michael remembers his father bringing home un-perfect baked goods and all Michael’s friends would be waiting on the front steps to share in the treat. Steve quit drinking after Michael went to college.
Steve was very excited to spend time his first grandson, Colin Eaton Murphy, and he visited Colin and his parents in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, for a week three months before he died. He loved taking Colin out in the stroller and bought him an ice cream with jimmies. He never met his second grandson, Devon Eaton Murphy, who was born in 1985.
After suffering a heart attack and being hospitalized in January 1984 where he suffered from a terrible case of the hiccups, Steve died on February 8, 1984 after having a heart attack in their kitchen. Sadly, he died before Stephen and Carolyn’s wedding. The night before he died, Cathy and Michael were fortunate to have a long phone conversation with him. Steve is buried in the Lindenwood Cemetery in Stoneham next to his wife, Millie.