Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Thomas Moonlight Murphy Obituary

Kansas City Star, January 25, 1953

Tom M Murphy Rites
---
THE SERVICES WILL BE HELD AT
2 O’CLOCK SATURDAY.
---
Many of the Pallbearers Are
Members of the University Club
of Which Murphy Was
a Leader.
---
Services for Tom Moonlight Murphy, insurance broker who died yesterday at St. Mary’s Hospital, will be held at 2 o’clock Saturday at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Fortieth and Main streets.
Cremation will follow. The family requests no flowers. It is suggested that any memorial contributions be sent to the Children’s Convalescent Center, 4052 Warwick boulevard.
[scan photo]
Operation in April.
Mr. Murphy, who was 65, had been a patient at the hospital since early last month. He underwent a major operation in April and since last fall had been confined most of the time to his home, 500 Knickerbocker place.
Most of the pallbearers are members of the University club, reflecting the leadership the insurance man had given the Baltimore avenue organization for many years. He served as president from 1943 to 1945, on the Board of Directors for seven years, as chairman of the House committee, and as everything from stagehand to star the annual club production of satire and song, the Nit Wit Follies.
Few men were better known on the downtown scene. Mr. Murphy was the gregarious sort. He was a big man, was a big voice and booming laugh. The pure buoyancy of his spirit provided him with a certain fame and he was considered a master of the art of telling a humorous story.
Mr. Murphy settled in Kansas City in 1908 upon graduation from the University of Nebraska. He had obtained a law degree, with his formal classroom education augmented by a measure of personal tutelage by William Jennings Bryan and his brother, Charles Bryan.

Protégé of Bryans.
As an undergraduate Mr. Murphy was something of a protégé of the Bryans. Both William Jennings Bryan, a national leader of the Democratic Party, and his brother, who served as governor of Nebraska, were close friends of Mr. Murphy’s father, Edward E. Murphy.
His first work here was as an employee of the old law firm of the late Sen. James A. Reed and John H. Atwood. Then in 1911 he went to the old National Surety company. It was here that he took the first step toward the eventual establishment of the insurance brokerage business.
On October 24, 1911, he married his Nebraska University sweetheart, miss Mayone Thompson, of Omaha. In 1912 his company sent him to Buenos Aires to open its first South American branch. He was there until 1914. Then he returned to the Kansas City office and continued with the company until 1923.
In that year Mr. Murphy established his own insurance brokerage business, specializing in surety bonds. He remained active, in spite of two operations in recent years for the removal of cataracts from his eyes, until the illness which struck him last spring.
Through the years the University club remained one of his primary interests. He became the first president of zone No. 1, comprising four states of the Nebraska alumni Association when that group was reorganized in 1940. Another interest was St. Paul’s Episcopal Church of which he had been a member of many years.
Mr. Murphy was born in Leavenworth Kas. His father, who died in 1928, was a Democratic leader, a friend of Woodrow Wilson and most of the national Democratic figures of this time. The father served for years as Democratic National Committee men from Kansas.

Name From Grandfather.
Tom Moonlight Murphy acquired the middle name from his grandfather. His mother was Miss Agnes Moonlight, the daughter of Col. Thomas Moonlight, an illustrious figure of the Civil War years in the Pioneer era in the West.
Colonel Moonlight served on the staff of general U. S. Grant, and commanded some of the Union troops at the Battle of Westport. He served as the first territorial governor of Wyoming, and was United States minister to Bolivia. Through years of service at Ft. Leavenworth, he considered that post his home.
Surviving Mr. Murphy are his wife, of the home; a daughter Mrs. William Hayes Swartz, Wilmington, Del.; a son, Tom Moonlight Murphy, jr., Baltimore; a sister, Mrs. Margaret C. Murphy, 624 West Sixty-first street, and two brothers, Brian P. Murphy, 5003 Wyandotte street, and E. E. Murphy, jr., Colorado Springs.

Monday, August 21, 2023

Bonus: 1993 Covered Wagon President's Message

This post is part of a series of editorials written by Bert Walsh during his tenure as president and past president of the Shasta Historical Society. Readers are advised that his humor is often irreverent and rarely politically correct. 

Click here for the table of contents for the entire collection of his editorials.

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The purposes of the Shasta Historical Society are to collect and preserve knowledge about the continuing history of Shasta county and, when appropriate, of adjoining areas; To maintain a depository of such historical material to serve as a research library for its members; And to spread the knowledge of local history for the education and enjoyment of the public.

Recently a local businessman had occasion to visit the Society's library. There he was greeted by the sight of five people in a cluttered, 16-foot square room, working elbow to elbow on different tasks in perfect concentration and harmony. He later told me that he was so stunned by this intense atmosphere that it took him several moments to collect his thoughts and state his reason for being there.

No doubt, at first glance, we appear to be a random collection of frenetic, self-absorbed elves all doing our own thing. But after watching for a while it becomes evident that it this more like quilting bee: we see a group of highly-motivated, able people, each working on one part of the design, and all contributing their ideas on what the final product should be.

Since the Society was established in 1930, we have stuck pretty close to the basic pattern in our mission statement. However, we have had to add and rearrange pieces as we evolved from a social group to a real community resource. Now as we stand back and look, we can see areas that need to be filled in. Access to our collection needs to be more user-friendly. Our programs could be improved. We should be more involved in our community. And the good news is that we have resources available to work on these areas.

What have we done since June, 1992 when the last Covered Wagon was issued?

  • We obtained a grant to publish a book of photos from our collection in fall, 1993 (it's now in preparation);
  • We funded a small college scholarship in memory of Miss Veronica Satorius;
  • We added a third computer to our library to simplify access to our collection;
  • In partnership with Trinitarianus Chapter, E Clampus Vitis, we sponsored an interpretive sign at the new Tower House bridge in the National Park Service Whiskeytown Recreational Area; and
  • In early 1993, we hired our first employee, Wayne Rich, to work in our library at the Redding museum and hopefully add some continuity to our volunteer operation.

It is hard to predict what other opportunities will have shown up by the time you read this (it's being written in January because of press deadlines). The projects above didn't happen by themselves just because the Board of Directors approved them - worthwhile things get done only when capable people do them.

So if you subscribe to our mission statement, this is your invitation to phone, write or visit us at the museum. It's always nice to see a new face (or an old one) and to hear new ideas.

- Bert T. Walsh
President


Political Correctness (January 1997)

This post is part of a series of editorials written by Bert Walsh during his tenure as president and past president of the Shasta Historical Society. Readers are advised that his humor is often irreverent and rarely politically correct. 

Click here for the table of contents for the entire collection of his editorials.

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Politically correct? In Shasta County?

It strikes us that we are passing up a good deal of humor because it would offend some segment of our membership. What we need is some community that can be slandered without giving offense to any of our readers. Right off the bat we can write off ethnic origins and go directly to locations in Shasta County.

We considered Montgomery Creek, Platina. Ono, Cottonwood, Sims and Oak Run. However, we decided to be a little discreet; those folks can get a little testy when insulted. We can't even use a place that isn't on the map any more, because somebody`s forebear might have been born there. Finally we narrowed things down between Gibson and Conant.

We picked on Conant because it is a classier place. It has its own freeway offramp, one house and an old cemetery that is best visited during the winter months when the poison oak has died down. I am sure that William R. Conant had great plans for the place, but they seem to have proceeded very slowly. Now, to illustrate what can be done with this politically neutral location, we present for your edification a  smattering of "Conant" jokes. To challenge our readers, we list the lead-ins first and the punch lines, arranged out of order, next. The challenge is to find the punch line that best fits the lead-in. Go to it, gang.

  • They have a lot of trouble with the plumbing in Conant, because...
  • The president of the Conant Historical Society was recently awarded a gold medal...
  • The high school principal used to live in Cottonwood, but he moved to Conant last year...
  • Where is Conant's 911 dispatch center? 
  • Why can't you get newspaper delivery in Conant?
  • What's black & white and sleeps two?
  • How can you tell who the mayor of Conant is?
  • How do they get the kids out of the swimming hole at dinnertime?
  • Why did they have to cancel the Christmas pageant?
              • It's too hard to throw uphill from the freeway.
              • He is the fellow wearing a clean John Deere cap.
              • They just throw in a cake of soap.
              • It was impossible to find three wise men.
              • It drains uphill.
              • Her husband had it bronzed.
              • The Conant City police car.
              • The pool hall in Castella.
              • It raised the level of intelligence in both places.

P. S. In case we have managed to offend someone in Conant in spite of our diligent efforts, we will be glad to make amends by offering him/her a free subscription to our Newsletter.

--BTW

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Saturday, August 12, 2023

Membership (May 1996)

This post is part of a series of editorials written by Bert Walsh during his tenure as president and past president of the Shasta Historical Society. Readers are advised that his humor is often irreverent and rarely politically correct. 

Click here for the table of contents for the entire collection of his editorials.

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Here is a fascinating item gleaned from the Question & Answer column of our favorite newspaper: The official Betty Boop Fan Club was founded in l980, has 400 members and sends out a yearly newsletter.

Think about this. Our Society was founded in 1930 and has nearly one and a half times the membership. Is this because we are older? Or is Shasta County history possibly more interesting than 1930s cartoons? Maybe our Newsletter and/or our programs are more interesting. Perhaps our mission statement is more inspiring, our leadership more farsighted and our members more culturally astute. I'll have to think about this for a while.

Meanwhile, if you find that your loyalties are divided, the address of the Betty Boop Fan club is given as 12350 Marshall Avenue, Chino, CA 91710-2523; the phone number is (714) 628-0399.

--BTW

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Note: The Official Betty Boop Fan Club above is no more. It is now less of a club, and more a merchandise platform, run by Fleischer Studios (the character was created by Max Fleisher), as well as on popular social media platforms: https://www.bettyboop.com/

The Meaning of Life, continued (April 1996)

This post is part of a series of editorials written by Bert Walsh during his tenure as president and past president of the Shasta Historical Society. Readers are advised that his humor is often irreverent and rarely politically correct. 

Click here for the table of contents for the entire collection of his editorials.

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We hardly ever go to the movies any more. There doesn't seem to be much point since we lost John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. It seems easier to sit at home and use the TV channel selector to search for the true Meaning of Life.

However, last month in protest against the sex, violence and really depressing local newscasts on TV we thought we would take in a movie, Things sure have changed. Why, the first thing I noticed is that they sell popcorn in something that looks like a five-gallon pail. Not only that; it seems they have five or ten different movies going on at the same time. Fortunately they show them in different rooms. This minimizes the confusion, although not entirely. A person still has to find the right room and then remember which one it is every time the popcorn bucket needs refilling.

Later on it occurred to me that this was the ideal way to handle Society meeting programs after we have increased membership from 600 to 6000 folks. On any typical meeting day, we would have several programs going at once. We might have a Seminar on the True Meaning of Life, a rescreening of my daughter`s wedding with film clips of our grandson spliced in, the ultimate Jean Beauchamp slide show, "Over the South Pole by Balloon," and warming up on the runway at Anderson International Airport would be a chartered 797 ready to whisk us off on an afternoon tour of the Overland Trail from Missouri to California.

How about it, gang-are you ready for the Future? 

--BTW

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Demographics (March 1996)

 This post is part of a series of editorials written by Bert Walsh during his tenure as president and past president of the Shasta Historical Society. Readers are advised that his humor is often irreverent and rarely politically correct. 

Click here for the table of contents for the entire collection of his editorials.

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I kind of enjoy getting up to our place in the hills. Part of the fun is the ride up the county road. This time of year it's nice to see the new calves and lambs, and with the cattle down on winter range, one can watch the cowboys doing their thing. It's also interesting to see whose rig is parked at whose place and to speculate what sort of mischief they might he up to. With county elections coming up, it is instructive to note the "VOTE FOR" signs on gate posts--sort of an unofficial political poll. (There ought to be a pun here about polled Herefords/Heryfords, but I'm not sure how to work it in) The FOR SALE signs are also worth noting. They can give a reading on the economy. 

The dog enjoys this too; she knows just where to bark and raise a fuss and sucker other dogs into chasing the car. And then there is the recognition game--whoever spots an oncoming neighbor and waves first wins. 

I suppose that folks have been doing this sort of thing for as long as there have been towns, mines, farms, ranches and roads thereto. This is kind of a link with the past, and a lot more fun than using the freeway.

I thought it was interesting when Jack Haner took a pig to the Fair. However, he has nothing on our Marilyn Carter, who brought her pig (pot belly) to the Museum. She encountered a problem-the museum attendants couldn't decide how much admission to charge. That's a real shame...

Marilyn is the new Publications Sales & Distribution czar (czarina?). We haven't found a job for the pig yet, though his name did come up for consideration by the Nominating committee. 

--BTW

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Friday, August 11, 2023

Database Enhancement Program (December 1995)

This post is part of a series of editorials written by Bert Walsh during his tenure as president and past president of the Shasta Historical Society. Readers are advised that his humor is often irreverent and rarely politically correct. 

Click here for the table of contents for the entire collection of his editorials.

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This month, in this space, we are proud to unveil our new Database Enhancement Program designed to radically revitalize your Society. 

How does it work? Simplicity itself. Every one of our 600 members will send out 10 letters to friends and acquaintances asking them to send $12.50 to join the Society. With 100% cooperation we should gain 6,000 new members. Carrying this forward one step, if every one of the 6,000 new members writes to 10 other individuals asking them to send $12.50 to one of the original 600 members we will have 600 new historical societies each with 100 members.

Beyond this the math gets kind of difficult, but the implications are staggering. With 66,600 active historians in the area, setting up and scheduling meetings could become a problem. However, on the plus side, the Covered Wagon would start to look like the National Geographic, Viacom would show nothing but the History Channel, and no doubt we would pick up at least 20 more volunteers.

OK, gang, you have caught the vision, so let's whip out those ball-point pens and start writing our friends and neighbors. 

--BTW

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