Obituary of Lowell Rinard Murphy

No VisitationMemorial donations: Memorial donations instead of flowers may be sent to Radio 4VEH, a missionary radio station in Haiti. Go to www.sonnysolar.com/newday/giv.php website and choose “air time" to donate online or by mail. Lowell Rinard Murphy Born: 1/25/1916 ~ Died: 12/29/2007 Lowell Rinard Murphy was born January 25, 1916, in Boise, Idaho, to Wendell Phillips and Hazel Azalia Murphy. He was their first and only child. Lowell entered heaven December 29, 2007, in Olympia, Washington. He is survived by his wife, Wilma Irene (Moorman) Murphy, and two daughters, Marilyn Irene (Murphy) Shaferly and Linda Marie (Murphy) Merz; also eight grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren. A third daughter, Charlene Louise (Murphy) Luce and a great grandson Garrett Luce preceded him to heaven. Lowell spent his boyhood in Boise with his parents, who were beekeepers. Eichenberger cousins in nearby Melba provided the fun and comraderie Lowell might have found in siblings. Church activities in the Friends Church with his godly Quaker parents were an influential part of Lowell’s youth. As a child of ten he committed his life to Christ, a decision that would deeply affect his choices throughout his lifetime. Following high school and junior college in Boise, Lowell went to Portland, Oregon, to attend Cascade College for two years. In addition to his studies, Lowell was active in First Friends Church in Portland, where he met and later married Wilma Moorman on January 29, 1939. Lowell worked most of his life as a photographer, first with portrait and landscape photographers in Boise, Idaho, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, then with the U. S. Government’s Bureau of Reclamation. Responsibilities with the Bureau, which required photographic documentation of all dam construction, took him in 1942 to Anderson Dam near Sun Valley in Idaho (then the highest earth-fill dam in the world), to Folsom Dam in northern California in 1951, and finally to work on Casitas Dam in southern California in 1956. Many of Lowell’s photographs are still on display at visitor exhibits at those dams. Completion of the Casitas Dam in 1959 meant probable transfer to another project. However, Lowell was involved in helping to start a Friends church in Ventura, where the family was living. He decided to resign from the Bureau in order to remain with the church, where he served in various capacities, including that of worship leader, just as he had in previous Friends churches the family had attended. Both Lowell and Wilma came from “Quaker” families that could trace their heritage as part of the “Friends” movement back to the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania in the 1700s and its founder George Fox in England in the 1600s. In 1960, Lowell took a job with the U.S. Postal Service, continuing there until 1974 when a back ailment forced his early retirement. In 1975, he and Wilma moved to Willits, CA, where they lived “on their own little mountaintop” and helped pioneer another new church, Willits Church of the Nazarene. In 2002, they moved to Olympia, WA, to be near their youngest daughter, Linda. Until Lowell’s illness in 2007, the couple traveled around the country in their RV, and eventually spent the winter months each year at Happy Trails Resort in Surprise, AZ. Lowell was not a golfer, but he enjoyed swimming several times a week as well as singing in the choir in the resort’s vibrant community church, just as he had done in all the previous churches they had been a part of. From his youth, Lowell was captivated by airplanes, even carrying a picture and clipping of Charles Lindberg, his childhood hero, in his wallet most of his life. During the time the family lived in Anderson Dam, Idaho, Lowell bought a two-seat Taylor Craft airplane and often used it to fly the family to Boise and other places to visit friends and relatives. His love of airplanes – and his commitment to spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ -- prompted him to contribute financially both to Mission Aviation Fellowship and Missionary Flights, International – organizations that bring supplies to missionary works around the world. Involvement in other charitable organizations also reflected Lowell’s deep love for Jesus Christ and his commitment to supporting Christian ministries. One missionary radio station, Radio 4VEH, located in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, West Indies, and operated by OMS International, was especially close to his heart, as his oldest daughter Marilyn served there as a missionary for 43 years. Lowell’s family has grown to include eight grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren. All eight grandchildren made special trips from California, Ohio, Oregon and Massachusetts to visit their grandfather just weeks before his death. Lowell’s kind and loving Christian spirit will be greatly missed and long remembered by family and friends alike. Please leave your memories of Lowell and your condolences for the family by clicking on "view guestbook" link.