Regina Murphy
Regina Murphy
Regina Murphy

Obituary of Regina Lee Murphy

Regina Lee Murphy, aka Reggi and Gina, was born on June 29, 1986, to parents, Duane Sanford and Ruth Schutter.

Regina loved fiercely. If you were lucky enough to know that love, you know that she would give anything at any time to make someone that she cared for feel special. Quality time was her love language, and that is how she demonstrated love and liked to receive it. As a child, she loved riding in the big truck with her dad and sister, Becca. They spent countless hours at Skateland roller skating together. She would often stay the night at her mom and sister’s house, and sometimes those nights would stretch into multiple nights because she wanted them to all be together. Her mom loved listening to her three daughters laughing hysterically together over a memory or simply sharing what was going on in their lives. In Regina’s own words, her best memories were the times she was merely hanging out with family doing nothing but chatting. Those moments, the back-and-forth quips and laughing, cost us nothing but are priceless memories we will forever cherish.

Regina found joy in the simplest things in life – reading a good novel, a great movie, crocheting, drawing, and watching ridiculous reality TV shows with her mom and sisters.  She was a thoughtful gift giver and would spend months planning and making gifts for family and close friends, especially her homemade blankets.  We have several of her special blankets, which seemed like too much at the time, but we now wish we had 100 more to keep us safe and warm.

Her love for books was everlasting.  She would read her favorite books and series over and over, which is a level of commitment to a good story that went underappreciated. Regina’s love for movies started at a young age.  Growing up, to the dismay of everyone else in the house, Regina and her sister would watch The Hugga Bunch repeatedly, which their mom and dad painfully rented from the video store every weekend for months. As she grew into adulthood, her appreciation for a good movie grew with her. Her favorite movies would often play on repeat in her house. She and her husband, Kevin, would immediately purchase movies when they came out on DVD (especially Marvel and Harry Potter movies) and they went to the movies whenever possible.

She was a lover of all things Harry Potter and was a proud member of the Gryffindor House.  You could find evidence of this love all over the place – from quotes on her phone case, to stuffed animals, to blankets.

Though they didn’t go often, Regina loved camping with her husband in any form, and they even rented a yurt in the middle of nowhere for their honeymoon. She loved the water, any body of water, and every summer played in lakes, rivers, Wild Waves, or her sister’s pool.  The sunshine called her, and we had to beg her to wear sunblock.  She didn’t want anything coming between her and its rays.

We’ll always hold close the family jokes, such as “the cows are coming,” the mouse in the sugar jar, and “the guinea pig is crying for you.”  When she was younger, we are sorry to say, she was often the recipient of our practical jokes, but as she got older, she became a part of the sisterhood that played jokes on one another. We will forever remember the smiles and laughs (sometimes at the expense of one another) we had together. 

Her favorite holiday was Christmas, and Thanksgiving was a close second.  As a child, Christmas was spent at her grandparent’s ranch in California and, as an adult, that tradition continued at her mom’s house. Every Christmas Eve, Regina put together movie and pajama packs for all the kids at her mom's, which included treats, popcorn, pajamas, coloring books, and more. These holidays were adored mostly due to the guarantee that we would get together as a family and the rest of the world would fall away for one or more days together. 

Regina passed away peacefully in her home on April 23, 2022. She is loved and remembered by her husband, Kevin Murphy; her stepchildren, whom she loved as her own, Jonathan and Robbie Murphy; her mom, Ruth Schutter; her dad and stepmom, Duane and Tracy Sanford; her sisters, Rachael Sanford, Becca Cole, and Rachel Adams; and her nieces and nephews.

Please leave condolences or share memories and photos on the Tribute Wall to the left.

 

 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Regina Murphy, please visit Tribute Store
A Memorial Tree was planted for Regina
We are deeply sorry for your loss ~ the staff at Funeral Alternatives of Washington - Tumwater
Share Your Memory of
Regina