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- MURPHY, FRANCES (LEGERE) - The death of Frances Lillian Theresa "Fran" Murphy, wife of W. Douglas Murphy, of 19 York Street, Champlain Heights and "Fran's Haven", 105 Otis Road, Cassidy Lake, Kings County, occurred in the Palliative Care Unit of the Saint John Regional Hospital on Saturday, 21 August 2004, following a long and painful struggle with breast cancer.
A proud Saint Johnner, Mrs. Murphy was a life-long resident of the city. She was born on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1927, the eldest child of the late Leo Joseph and Lillian Theresa (Quinn) Legere. Frances grew up in Saint John's South End, a stone's throw from where her mother's great-grandparents, James and Catherine (Creegan) Murphy, settled after immigrating from the Parish of Carlingford, County Louth, Ireland, in 1840. Although socialized in an almost entirely Irish context, she was equally proud of her Acadian roots. Her paternal great-grandparents, Simon and Elisabeth (Forest) Legere-both eighth generation Maritimers-migrated to St. John County in 1888 and established a boarding house on Greenhead Road whose residents propagated the city's Acadian community.
Frances Legere attended St. John the Baptist and St.
Vincent's Girls' (High) Schools. A promising student, she left school in November 1942 to become foster mother to her three younger sisters. From April 1952 until February 1960 she was employed with the F. W. Woolworth Company. She married fellow South Ender, Doug Murphy on May 18, 1959 and together they shared forty-five happy years of married life.
Frances was a woman of immense Christian faith and throughout her life took a keen interest and active role in the affairs of the Church and, by extension, the entire community. For the last thirty-nine years she was a member of St. Joachim's Parish. She was a member of the Catholic Women's League of Canada for nearly sixty years. She was a former member of the choir and Ladies' Society of St. John the Baptist Parish, the League of the Sacred Heart and the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. She was a former member of the Champlain Heights Home and School Association; the East Saint John Clean Air Coalition and a volunteer with the Canadian Cancer Society, the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Diabetes Association.
Beginning in the late 1970's, she worked as a volunteer teacher's helper at Champlain Heights School and, later, as a clerk at Roxie's Gift Shop and Card Land. She was a long-time member of the Liberal Party and a member of the Saint John Chapter of the Irish Canadian Cultural Association. Her hospitality, infectious enthusiasm and animated manner of expression endeared her to a wide circle of friends. She was, above all, a loyal, affectionate and proud wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend.
She is survived by her devoted husband, W. Douglas Murphy; her children: Stephen Douglas "Steve" Murphy (Jocelyn, nee Corkum), of Halifax; Peter Douglas Murphy (Melody, nee Clarke), Washington, D.C. and Ellen Frances Catherine Murphy (Jeremie "Jerry" Pineau) of Saint John and three grandchildren: Nora Elizabeth Nunn Murphy, Antigonish, Nova Scotia; Brendan Douglas Murphy, Halifax and Agnes Mary Frances Murphy of Washington. In addition, she is survived by her three sisters: Sister Therese Frances Leger (Mary (Joan) Anne) of the Association of Hermits of MacAdam's Lake, Nova Scotia; Catherine Theresa "Kay" Williams and Margaret (Elizabeth) "Liz" Reid (Paul) of Saint John; by one brother, Barry Andrew Donald Leger (Patricia, nee Maber); two half-brothers: John (Paul) Anthony (Michele, nee Cyr) of Fredericton and Michael Leo Leger, of Saint John; by brothers and sisters-in-law, Amelia "Toby" (nee Tobias) Legere of Saint John; George "Ted" Murphy (Sandra, nee Doucette) of Stratford, Prince Edward Island and Cassidy Lake, Kings County and Ruthann Galbraith (Gordie) of Grand Bay-Westfield, New Brunswick and by her step-mother-in-law, Mrs. Doris (Ferguson Moore) Murphy of West Saint John. She is also survived by one half-uncle, Raymond Noel (Berla, nee Burden), of Saint John, thirty nieces and nephews and thirty-six grand nieces and nephews. She will be greatly missed by her dear friend Madelyn Williams of Saint John. In addition to her parents, Lillian (1952) and Leo Legere (1976), she was predeceased by her father and mother-in-law, Walter Hatfield Irving Murphy (1998) and Winifred Gertrude (Cox) Murphy (1991), by her step-mother, Margaret (Campbell) Leger Beckingham (1996), by two brothers Edmund Joseph "Ned" Legere (1999) and Joseph Legere (in infancy, 1936), by a half-brother, Joseph Leo Leger (in infancy, 1964), by brother-in-law, Ronald James "Skeezie" Williams (2004); by a niece, Caroline Elizabeth Murphy (in infancy, 1965), a nephew, Eric Douglas Jensen (1997) and by two grandchildren in utero (2001 and 2004).
Arrangements are in the care of Fundy Funeral Home, 230 Westmorland Road, Saint John (646-2424). The family will receive visitors at the Funeral Home on Monday and Tuesday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated in St. Joachim's Church, 603 Loch Lomond Road, Saint John, on Wednesday morning, August 25, 2004 at 10:00 a.m. Interment will follow in St. Joseph's Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, St. Joachim's Church Building Fund or Divine Mercy Catholic School. www.fundyfuneralhome.com
ANNOUNCEMENT PUBLISHED IN
Telegraph Journal
- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/181464584/frances-lillian_theresa-murphy
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1927 - 2004 (76 years)