Them Monkeys In The Tree, Powell D. Murphy.  Hopkins Co.

     Lt. Col. Powell Davis (Pete) Murphy, deceased, the only child of 
Bernard Strother and Anne Thompson (Powell) Murphy, was born in 
Earlington, KY 30 Dec 1924, and died 12 Oct 1991 in Lufkin, Angelina Co., 
Texas.  Marjorie (Morrison) Murphy was the third and youngest child of 
Porter and Lizzie Alma (Curlee) Morrison of Athens, Henderson Co., TX.  
Pete and Marjorie Murphy married 22 Jul 1945 and had three children: Jeff 
Donald Murphy (b. 28 Aug 1947); David Porter Murphy (b. 6 Apr 1950); 
and Sheryll Ann Murphy (b. 15 May 1951).
 
     Both Pete and Marjorie grew up in small towns, which in nostalgic 
retrospect, were indeed an idyllic environment for rearing children.  
Neither of them ever knew they were poor nor wanted for the necessities 
of life despite the adverse affect of the "Great Depression of 1929" and 
its aftermath on their respective families.  Marjorie and Pete were 
secure in the knowledge that they were loved and protected by strong 
familial ties.  Both families contained good managers who made their 
meager wages go a long way.  There was always sufficient clothing to 
cover the skin, shoes for the feet and wholesome food aplenty.  They
were indeed blessed and fortunate by comparison with some of their 
childhood friends.  They did have all of life's necessities thanks to 
their family's strength, pride, and hard efforts to provide as best 
they could under the circumstances.  It was with a deep feeling of 
belonging and sense of contentment with which Marjorie and Pete grew 
to young adulthood.  The disruptive conflagration of World War II was 
to finally bring these two young people together across the miles purely 
by chance and fate.  Once met they joined together in a venture of love, 
excitement, contentment, and companionship which lasts until this day.

     Pete was an over-protected, spoiled child, possessing a high 
spirited and mischievious disposition.  He developed a great love for 
the out-of-doors.  As a youngster he spent every possible moment 
exploring the woods, streams, and lakes around Earlington.  A straight 
"A" student through the fifth grade, this changed dramatically his sixth 
school year when classroom confinement chafed and interfered with his 
freedom to range out of doors.  In 1936 the family enrolled him in 
Columbia Military Academy where he remained, except for vacations, until 
he was expelled in 1940.  (NOTE: He later graduated from the Madisonville 
KY High School in 1946 through correspondence courses taken during an 
overseas tour in the Phillipine Islands).  During 1941-42 he was employed 
by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad as a signalman installing and 
maintaining the signal system.  He volunteered for the U.S. Marine Corps 
8 Dec 1941 (day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor) but was rejected 
for physical injuries suffered years earlier.  He finally entered the 
service through the draft on 5 May 1943 and volunteered for duty with 
the U.S. Army.  Pete was to remain in the Army until he retired on 
1 Aug 1968.  He rose from the rank of Private to that of Lieutenant 
Colonel, Regular Army; served in wars (World War II, Korean Conflict, 
& Vietnam War); had 10 years of overseas duty; obtained his college
degree, received 17 U.S. and 3 foreign awards to include the U.S. Legion 
of Merit and the Vietnamese Medal of Honor.  He retired from the federal 
service prior to his scheduled promotion to full Colonel taking effect.

     Pete was named after his mother's maiden name, Powell, and his 
grandfather Jeff Murphy's middle name, Davis.  During his entire boyhood 
he was addressed either as Powell Davis or P.D. or Pete.  It was not 
until after his son, David, was born in Germany and Pete was required 
to prove U.S. citizenship by his birth certificate that is was discovered 
the birth certificate was in error.  His name is written thereon as: 
"Davis Powell Murphey".  Pete never had it changed because of the many 
administrative procedures involved.  All service records, social security, 
etc., are listed as Powell Davis and it seemed just too much trouble and 
effort to change them at that late date in life.  Pete's mother, Anne 
Thompson (Powell) Murphy Unger will quickly tell anyone today, "I named 
that boy Powell Davis and I think it's a pretty name!"  No one but no 
one would dare argue with the feisty "Maw".

     Pete was pretty bad as a youngster about slipping away from the 
house to go fishing at the nearby Earlington Lake.  Ed Hoosier 
("Brokedown"), the Murphy's hired hand loved to eat fish.  It seemed 
Brokedown could never get enough fish.  No matter how small or large the 
size, what kind, or how few or many Pete caught Brokedown would 
meticulously clean each one for his meal.  He also was always willing to 
help Pete dig worms for bait.  Whenever Pete was discovered missing, 
Granny Murphy would without fail send Brokedown out searching for him.  
One day, after finally locating Pete, Brokedown stretched out in the 
shade on a bank gently sloped to the water and fell soundly asleep.  The 
longer he slept the closer he edged to the water until finally both feet
were actually in the lake.  When Pete finally finished his fishing he 
shook Brokedown who awoke with a start and startled expression.  Old 
Brokedown muttered and grumbled as he squishily made his way home about 
getting his shoes wet.  Daddy Jeff learned of this incident and told 
Granny to stop sending Brokedown out to look for Pete as he thought Pete 
was big enough to take care of himself.  Brokedown and Pete did go 
fishing together thereafter but never again did poor old "Broke" ever 
have to go looking for him.  Pete teased him about this incident for 
many years thereafter.

     When he entered service in 1943, Pete had not completed his high 
school education.  The efforts Pete was forced to take to keep abreast 
of his more educated classmates when he entered Officer's Candidate 
School, Fort Benning, GA made a lasting impression upon him.  Long after 
his fellow candidates were asleep in their beds, Pete could be found 
night after night studying his manuals in the latrine seated on a toilet 
under the single light bulb left burning.  He made a vow then and there 
that he would obtain an education however long it took.  The result was 
that in addition to the numerous service courses and schools he completed, 
he obtained his high school diploma through correspondence courses, 
received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Omaha and 
has attended seven universities and colleges completing considerable 
graduate level work subesequent to his service retirement.  He jokingly 
relates the story that while he may have been awarded his Second 
Lieutenant's commission at OCS, he also achieved a lifelong case of 
hemorrhoids from his unusual study habits during that period.

     On 3 Jul 1945 at Camp Howze, Gainesville, TX, Mrs. Maxine White, 
wife of a fellow officer of Pete's, insisted that he attend a party 
that evening as she had invited a lovely young lady by the name of 
Marjorie whom she wanted him to meet.  Neither Marjorie nor Pete were 
too much interested in going and almost didn't meet as a result when 
both attempted to cancel the engagement.  However, Maxine White was not 
to be denied and would accept no excuses - so they met.  The next day 
Pete proposed to Marjorie and she accepted.  Eighteen days later they 
had completed travel by train from Gainesville, TX to Earlington, KY where
they were married 22 Jul 1945.  Eleven days later Pete departed for the
Phillipine Islands leaving his new bride with his grandparents.  After 
3 weeks, Marjorie became homesick and returned to her home in Athens, TX 
where she resumed her old job as a cashier at the local movie theater.

When Marjorie and Pete arrived in Earlington to be married, Pete discovered
that the former Methodist minister he'd known had been transferred in his
absence.  Pete then requested the Christian Church minister who was his old
scoutmaster, to perform the ceremony.  Brother Dick not only would, but did,
and so they were married.  Best man was James Donald Morse, Earlington, a
boyhood friend just recently released the previous month from a German 
prisoner of war camp.  The lady in waiting was Miss Frederica Pride of 
Madisonville, KY.

Keeping in mind the very short time (11 days) they had together after their
whirlwind courtship and marriage, Marjorie and Pete's reunion was somewhat
hilarious.  Pete was returned from the Phillipines, processed through the
Oakland Army Center near San Francisco and placed aboard a troop train 
bound for Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, TX without any opportunity to 
alert Marjorie that he was back in the United States.  He slipped off the 
troop train in the tiny border town of Texico, New Mexico and telephoned 
Marjorie to meet him in San Antonio.  Marjorie hurriedly packed and rushed 
to catch the bus for a sleepless night's ride to arrive with the sunrise 
in San Antonio.  By noon exhausted from her efforts to reach Fort Sam 
Houston and then frustrated at her inability to find Pete who was 
processing out of the Army, Marjorie was indeed tired and in the frame of 
mind for murder when Pete was finally located and notified that his wife 
was waiting for him in the Unit Orderly Room.  He speedily talked his way 
through the remainder of his out-processing and rushed back to the orderly 
room.  Bursting through the door he was abruptly halted at the sight of 
his beautiful and tired - but determined - wife standing with her hands 
on her hips and wearing an exasperated expression.  Before Pete could
utter a word, Marjorie broke him up with, "WELL!!!  WHERE HAVE YOU 
BEEN???".  Pete, after regaining his breath from laughing, hugging, and 
kissing Marjorie, said, "That's one helluva thing to say to a husband who 
has been gone over a year!"  Neither of them have ever forgotten the joy 
of that reunion - the first one of many to follow.

     Pete pursued a pre-dental curriculum at Western Kentucky State at 
Bowling Green, KY and applied for admission to the University of Louisville 
School of Dentistry.  The vast numbers of discharged World War II veterans 
attending school and seeking entrance into the professional fields made 
for a situation where obviously not everyone could be accepted no matter 
how well qualified academically they might be.  With this uncertainty 
facing them, Pete also applied for return to active status in the Army.  
Fate was to play a strange trick on this young couple.  Both acceptance 
by the University of Louisville and return to active service arrived on 
the same day in the same mail.  It posed a dilemma which Marjorie and Pete 
discussed far into the night.  Each slept little and resumed discussion 
the next morning.  Their basic options were a minimum of four more years 
of college with a young child on extremely limited funds or return to the 
military where a small but regular income was assured.  Marjorie finally 
stated that, although the prospect of life as a dentist's wife was 
appealing, she simply could not see Pete confined to the same office and
location day after day, year after year in view of his love of travel and 
the out-of-doors.  This decided the issue and Pete returned to active 
service in November 1948.

     Pete's service between 1948 and 1968 included periods of time in 
Germany, Korea, Ft. Benning, GA, Ft. Campbell, KY, Ft. Leavenworth, KS, 
South Vietnam, Ft. Shafter, HA, and the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

     Any war is a horrible hell and if this adage required reinforcement, 
the Vietnam War certainly provided it.  Our nation so needlessly lost 
beautiful young men and women in that long conflict.  Caught up in and 
preoccupied with his many heavy responsibilities, Pete nevertheless took 
the time and made the effort to provide the young men returning from 
combat patrol and battle a place where they could mentally and physically 
relax in freedom from their cares and discomforts of jungle isolation in 
the center of Viet Nam.  Pete called it his war-time fun project.  His 
personal papers contain his original rough sketches wherein he planned 
and developed, as a surprise project, a recreational area for the 1st 
Air Calvary Division.  The newspaper article which appeared when it 
became known explains it best.

     One of the toughest family decisions Pete and Marjorie faced was 
Pete's retirement from the Army.  He was at the peak of his career, 
highly decorated, on the promotion list to full colonel, and assured of 
at least four more years in the Pentagon in high-level assignments.  The 
problem was the high cost of living in the Washington D.C. area.  Jeff 
was already in his sophomore year at North Texas State University, David 
was preparing to enter college the next fall, and Sheryll Ann the 
following year.  Marjorie and Pete just didn't see how they could live 
in Washington D.C. and help the children through college all at the same 
time, even on a full colonel's pay.  Efforts proved unsuccessful to 
obtain reassignment to a post, camp or station where living expenses were 
not so high.  Also, their house lease could not be renewed which meant 
another move, attendant disruption, and greater additional costs.  During
the 1967 Christmas period when the entire family was gathered together, 
Pete asked each member in turn what they thought about him retiring from 
the service.  Each gave him their considered and straightforward opinions 
which, for the most part, favored retirement and finally settling the 
family permanently into one place.  Pete carefully considered all factors 
including his children's views and attitudes.  Several months later he 
submitted his resignation when he finally concluded it seemed appropriate 
for the Murphys to settle in Athens, TX; at least until the children had 
gotten through college.

     Upon retirement in 1968, Pete and Marjorie moved from Washington D.C. 
to Athens, TX believing they were making their final move.  Pete accepted 
a teaching job and after one year in the classroom he became the
superintendent/principal of a small school in East Texas, a position he 
held until 1973.  He and Marjorie purchased a lake marina in 1971, 
developing it into an outstanding family rest and recreation facility but 
the accumulation of an overactive life had begun to show a developing 
physical strain.  At his physician's suggestion, Pete again retired from 
school and business in early 1973 and remained in retirement until 1974 
when he accepted employment as a special agent with the Lincoln National 
Insurance Company.  He wrote over a million dollars insurance within a 
year but being dissatisfied with what he was doing, resigned and went to 
work for the State of Texas as a director in the Texas Surplus Property 
Agency.  After working there a few years, he and his wife retired to Lufkin,
Angelina Co., TX.

     "Them Monkeys In The Tree" was Marjorie's and my second book in the 
past two years.  The first being an "operations manual" adopted state-wide 
as an official state of Texas document and used by the University of 
Houston as a textbook for mid-level managers as an example of how to 
develop and write simple effective state directives.  Of course I've 
really been involved most of my life in writing either in college, the 
Army, and in my civilian jobs and I fully realize that while I'll never 
really be worth a damn at it, I sure enjoy organizing material and feebly 
attempting to put it together.  Needless to say, I could never have done 
any of it without my patient and lovely bride of 38 years, Marjorie.


     My father was interested in his family.  Whenever possible, given 
the nature of military assignments, he tried to involve us in family 
reunions, living near relatives, etc.  He tried to share with us his love 
of family and good friends.  He introduced us to new experiences; always 
willing to try a new restaurant, see what was over the next hill.  When 
moving between assignments, he tried to find interesting things along the 
way for us to see and do.  Consequently we visited a number of tourist 
attractions and points of interest.  I remember the gravity house in the 
Ozarks; the tickets to see Victor Borge, pro wrestling, the circus, and 
the Harlem Globetrotters; the German restaurant in Wurzberg, with it's 
tank of eels and strawberry wine; the weekend drives to this or that 
place just to see what's there - all in the name of teaching us kids about 
the world we live in and the people that would make up our adult lives.

     My father died on October 12, 1991, of cancer of the liver.  The
disease was misdiagnosed by his battery of physicians until it was too 
late to operate.  In the end, I flew down to visit about a week before 
he died.  He was in as good a spirits as could be expected: this was a man 
who feared death and lived his life proving over and over he wasn't afraid.  
My brother called it the John Wayne complex, and although I disagreed with 
him at the time, I have come to see the wisdom of what he said when he 
described this period for my father as "one more charge over the hill, 
one more role to play".  It was difficult if not impossible for him to 
face his own mortality.

     My dad had begun to lose touch with reality.  He thought he was not 
at home for some reason.  When he was invited to go out in his wheelchair, 
he thought that it was a setup: he was being taken out for some nefarious 
purpose.  According to the hospice personnel, he had (as many do toward 
the end) higher and higher levels of aluminum in his blood, and this 
caused some delusions.  He grabbed my mother, something he would never 
do, and fortunately no longer had the strength to do anything physical.  
He was a physical man, and for him to lie in that hospital bed (which 
had been brought into his home to make him more comfortable) must have 
been demeaning, being waited on for physical necessities.  Thus death 
makes beggars of us all - if our pride does not permit us to accept help.

!SOURCE: 1. Powell D. & Marjorie Murphy
         2. Birth Certificate, Hopkins Co., KY, #65566.
         3. Service Records, U.S. Army - SN: 35730225, 01332403, 062842,
            404-22-9317.
         4. Marriage Certificate, Christian Co., KY, 22 Jul 1945.
         5. Will, Angelina Co., TX, dated 7 Feb 1990.
         6. Them Monkeys In The Tree, Powell D. Murphy.
         7. Memorandum of Understanding, Lubbock, TX, 1 Jan 1977.
         8. Honorable Discharge, Fort Benning, GA, 15 Feb 1945, Powell D.
            Murphy, 35730225, Corporal, Third Co., Third Student Training
            Regiment.
         9. U.S. Army Separation Qualification Record, 7 Sep 1946, Separation
            Center, Fort Sam Houston, TX.
        10. U.S. Army Retirement Order, 3 June 1968.
        11. "Two Youths Have Narrow Escape When Automobile Skids", 1939
            newspaper clipping.
        12. Correspondence, Powell D. Murphy to Elinor Rich, 26 Dec 1982.

Murphy Powell Davis Morrison Curlee Unger Hoosier White Dick Morse Pride
=
Christian-KY Henderson-TX Angelina-TX Germany Phillipines Vietnam GA HA
Washington-DC
http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/hopkins/murphy.pd.txt