DR. MURPHY HAS RETIRED AT ST. MARY
The Leavenworth Times
Dr. Arthur
M. Murphy has retired as president of Saint Mary College after
serving in that office since 1934. The announcement was made today
by Mother Leo Frances, S.C.L., president of the Board of Control
of the college.
With
his retirement Dr. Murphy ends a term of 30 years, one of the
longest held by a college president in this country. He has been
one of only five Catholic laymen who have recently been presidents
of Catholic colleges.
Teaching
duties in the Department of Sociology, allied with administrative
work, have kept him in touch with the students throughout his
years at Saint Mary.
Dr. Murphy
has received three papal honors. Pope Pius XII invited him to
knighthood in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem
in 1942 and made him a Knight Commander in 1955. In 1961 Pope
John XXIII raised him to a Knight Commander with Star.
He has been
a representative from Kansas on the White House Conference and
as a member of the Executive Committee of the College and University
Department of the National Catholic Educational Association.
He has been
a member of the Kansas Association of Church Related Colleges,
the Kansas Catholic College Association, and recently, the e3xe3cdutive
board of the Kansas City Regional Council for Higher Education.
Author of
"An Outline of Christian Sociology," Dr. Murphy has
taught the social sciences for the past 10 years at the U.S. Penitentiary
at Leavenworth.
He has served
on the board of directo0rsw of the Community Chest, more recently
the United Leavenworth Fund for the pas 25 years, and was a city
commissioner for eight years. A member of Sacred Heart parish,
he has been president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society for 22
years.
Dr. Murphy's
tenure at Saint Mary has been marked by an in crease in the college's
enrollment, by physical expansion to its present 12 buildings,
by curriculum development and faculty growth. During this period
the college establishe3d a graduate division in education which
grants the Master of Science in Education degree.
Dr.
Murphy will be president emeritus at the college and with Mrs.
Murphy will continue to live in Leavenworth. He plans to do some
writing and to work on a few hobbies.
Speaking
of retirement he said, "The college is not yet 50 years old.
In this years it has made solid, though not spectacular, progress.
Its administrators, faculty, and students work very hard, think
young, and look to the future. Our campus is large and beautiful;
our buildings, old and new, are substantial. One would search
a long time to find a more ideal college from which to receive
the title of president emeritus.
DR. A.M. Murphy Succumbs to Heart Attack
The Taper -Satin Mary College, Xavier, Kansas, November
18, 1964
Dr. Arthur M. Murphy, president emeritus of Saint
Mary, died at St. John's hospital Tuesday afternoon, No. 10, following
a heart attack suffered a few minutes earlier at his home in Leavenworth.
Dr. Murphy served as president of Saint Mary for
30 years. He retired in July of this year, but retained his office
here to do volunteer service as "a good will ambassador of
the college."
A graduate of Carroll College in Helena, Montana,
he heard his PhD from Catholic University of America. Before coming
to Saint Mary he taught sociology at Loyola university in Chicago
and at Incarnate Word college, San Antonio, Tex.
Pope Pius XII recognized Dr. Murphy for his contributions
to Catholic education, and invited him to be knighted in the Equestrian
Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. This same pope later
appointed him a knight commander with star.
Dr. Murphy was on the board of directors of the
Kansas Foundation for Private Coll3eges, and was a former vic-president
of that group. He was a member of the Kansas Committee to the
White House conference on Education Beyond HIgh School. for six
years he was a member of the executive committee of the National
Catholic Education Association
He took an active interest in his community, and
he3ld various civic positions. He served as city commissioner
in Leavenworth for eight year; he3 was char4ima of the budge committee
of the United Leavenworth Fund for seven years.
De3arest to his heart was his voluntary teaching
at the U.S. penitentiary.
The late president was a member of Sacred Hear parish,
a fourth degree Knight of Columbus, and a member of the St. Vincent
de Paul society.
Dr. Murphy is survived by three3 sons: Paul Owen
Murphy of Philadelphia, Donn B. Murphy of Washington, DC, and
Kevin Clare Murphy of Kansas City, Missouri one brother, Robert
Murphy of California, one sister, Judith Olean Belshaw of Montana,
and seven grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at Sacred Heart church
on Friday, Nov 1. Father Henry H. Grosdidier, pastor of Sacred
Heart parish celebrated the requiem high mass.
Faculty, juniors and seniors from Saint Mary attended
the funeral at which student sand the funeral mass. Student council
members formed an honor guard at the church and at Mount Calvary
cemetery, where Dr. Murphy was buried.
The Taper - In Paradisum: Deductant
te Angeli* - November 18, 1964
A friendly welcome to freshmen new in the academic
community, a reassuring smile and a warm handshake from a gentle
man and him tiny wife in one of many reception lines. . . a green
car and a wave to passing students on the way to the post office
. . . a leaky water pi0pe repaired by a nationally recognized
educator . . . a wooden crucifix carved in a basement workshop
, , , a signature on a Saint Mary ID card . . . Fragmentary recollections,
these, of a college president who will always be remembered for
his dedicated service to Saint Mary.
We feel inadequate to add either to Dr. Murphy's
fame or to the tributes that have been written by others. However,
we can and do offer our prayers and our sympathy to the college
in its loss, and especially to Mrs. Murphy and her sons. -- Peggy
Toy, Mary KaY Sick
* May angels lead you into paradise.
In a recent
interview, the late Dr. Arthur M. Murphy stated that his role
had been, "... to spread an appreciation of Saint Mary."
In this role, he gave literally hundreds of speeches, from which
we have chosen these few characteristic quotes:
On
the Teaching Apostolate
What we
are as men and women is more important in our apostolate than
what we teach.
