Murphy - Seven Stars in the Window

Louise A. Murphys life was never an easy one. Her mother died within thirty days of Louises birth, and her father died when she was fourteen. Her older brother, an army West Point graduate, took care of her, and in her own words, He was tough. Fort Sheridan, Illinois, where her brother was stationed, was an army base with a rigid social and moral structure. At the age of eighteen, she was limited to dating army officers. Once, she dated, but did not overwhelm, a young lieutenant named George S. Patton, Jr. Then she met a grizzled Spanish-American War veteran whod also spent five years in the Philippines, was a former homesteader and cowboy in Montana, and had grown up in New York City. By the time she met him, hed risen through the ranks from private to captain. Despite the fact that he was thirty-six, twice her age, they fell in love and married in 1910.

Two years later, she gave birth to their first son. In the following twenty years, she gave birth to twelve more children. Her second son died at birth. In those early years, the army moved the family from one dirty Texas border town to another. Several times, the family huddled in a stone house, as bullets from the supporters of Pancho Villa, on the Mexican side of the border, went flying by. At one time, in order to protect her family, she fired her revolver at an intruder in the back yard. With four young boys to care for, she watched her husband board a ship for France in 1918.

In the postwar years, she lived in Virginia, Maryland, and Kansas, bouncing back and forth from various assignments. In 1931, her husband, Ernest, now a colonel, was finally assigned the command of the 27th Infantry Regiment, at Schofield Barracks, Oahu, Hawaii. Her youngest child, Dick, was one year old, and Ernest, the eldest, was nineteen. By that time, she was worn out and bedridden with heart trouble. She never really regained her health.

After Hawaii, the family settled in Eugene, Oregon, her husband having been assigned as the Professor of Military Science in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) detachment. He retired there in 1938 after forty years of service.

Between the ages of twenty and thirty-eight, Louise had carried thirteen pregnancies to term. Add to that the rigors of moving every couple of years and performing the duties required of an officers wife while caring for twelve active young children. You can only imagine the stresses of her daily life. Yet, her troubles didnt really begin until she was forty-eight years old. This is her story in her own words, taken from letters written to family.

Born July 2, 1876, died June 20th, 1940. Veteran of the Spanish-American War, Philippine Insurrection, Punitive Expedition in Mexico, and WWI.

Several of the letters mention or were written by his brothers: Greg, Strother, Homer, Beeson, and Edwin. Greg lived in Augusta, Montana, and was the closest to Oregon. The rest lived on the East Coast.

Louise A. Murphy

Born 1892, died 1969

At Ernests death the children were aged

Ernest Jr., 27

Charles, 25

Arthur, 24

Allen, 22

Gene, 20

Jim, 19

Louise, 17

Edward, 16

Virginia, 14

Patricia, 13

Betty, 11

Dick, 10

The family in 1969 at Louises funeral.

Ernest, Arthur, Charles, Gene, Allen, Jim, Ed, Dick,

Pat, Louise, Virginia, Betty

This was the first time the family had been together since their fathers funeral in 1940.

Ernest, Charles, Arthur, and Allen all made the army their careers.

Dick served in the army from 1947 to 1948.

E. V. D. Murphy

Colonel, US Army, Retired

1867 Alder St.

Eugene, Oregon

11 June 1940

My Dear Homer:

Glad to get your letter of June 7 with the clippings that came in the other day. Much obliged for the clippings. The Manix picture and the statement of the boys adventures were very interesting.

Guess you have lots of excitement around Washington these days, even if you dont know much. Same here. Wheeler stands well out here, particularly with the middle-of-the-road people. There is one thing that people are very much confused overthe question of defense. Most picture it as a shoreline affair. We meet them as they try to debark. Such a procedure implies the presence of larger bodies of troops at critical points from which they can be moved rapidly to debarking areas. The difficulties of such procedure on the longer coastline, like the Atlantic, are obvious. Of course an active and efficient navy would delay, and might hamper, the efforts, hold them off, or direct their line of action. It does not appear, however, that naval action is too certain. I personally, having seen the effects of a home defense in France, I would prefer, within reasonable limits, to carry out my defensive measures in the other fellows front yard, its not so hard on the family and on the real estate.

Allen was in Washington three or four weeks ago over the weekend. Arrived Saturday and left the Sunday night. He called up your house but couldnt get an answer and figured that you must have been away vacationing like he was. Well, he will get another chance I guess, as we have just had a telegram from him saying that he was being kept on for an additional six months active service. I suppose he will stay at Ft. Wright but have had no letter from him yet.

Am getting quite an army of my own now. Allen, at Ft. Wright; Ernest, commanding CCC camp at Willits, California; Arthur goes on active duty July 1, lieutenant, infantry reserve; Eugene and Jim are in the National Guard; and Charles is in the organized reserve. Six altogether.

By all means, try and come to Eugene when you come west. Bring Don along if you can come. We have plenty of room, and well be more than glad to have you. Dont think were going to try to do anything this summer, but except maybe go over to the coast for a day or two.

[end of letter unsigned]