Helen Folsom Murphy

Obituary Helen F. Murphy Mom was born in Tacoma General Hospital on April 6, 1920 as Helen Louise Folsom and died there 92 years later on June 7, 2012 (not in the same room or bed as near as we can tell). This lady was a Tacoma girl through and through. She went to Sherman Elementary, Allen C. Mason Jr. High, Stadium High, and graduated with a degree in French from the College of Puget Sound way before it was UPS. She lived her entire life in the North End save a brief stint in La Jolla, California during WW2. Mom's employment career was fairly short working in the shipyards in Tacoma during the war. She was very proud to sit on the Board of Donald B. Murphy Contractors, Inc. until she passed. Her true life vocation was as the consummate "June Cleaver", mother, hostess, and the neighborhood matriarch. No one would have mistaken our dearly loved but slightly mischievous father for "Ward" but that is a discussion for another time. She was a wife to Don, mother to Colleen and Michael, grandmother, and great grandmother affectionately known as Gee Gee. She is survived by her clan and loyal subjects for she was also a benevolent queen in her realm. Please shed no tears thinking she had no friends for everyone she met fell under her spell and became part of her family and retinue. She lived life as she wanted, independently, in her cherished home to the finish sharing her infectious smile and "just purring" as she loved to say. Mom will host one last celebration; her expression of joy for those she loved and there are a bunch of you. Please join us at the Tacoma Yacht Club on June 23, 2012 at 1 PM. Donations in lieu of flowers to the Al Davies Branch of the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound Scholarship Program 1620 S. 17th St., Tacoma, WA 98405.