Ellis "Pat" Murphy

Ellis Pat Murphy



Pat Murphy was born September 12, 1915 to James Ulysses and Drucilla Elvira Murphy, the youngest of 12 children. He entered the world in a small cabin in the Ozarks Mountains across the White River from Buffalo, Arkansas, with the assistance of neither a doctor nor midwife. He grew up a mountain boy, running the hills of the Ozarks, or the streets of Springfield, Missouri, usually without shoes, nearly always in the company of his beloved older brother, Elza.



An elementary and high school teacher, John Q. Adams, helped determine the course of Pats life, inspiring him, challenging him to learn and giving him a vision for higher education and becoming a teacher himself. After high school, Pat attended what was then Southwest Missouri Teachers College in Springfield, Missouri, graduating in June, 1941. He was the only one of his 12 siblings to finish High School or College.



During college, God called Pat into his family and he became a lifelong Christ-follower with a passion for scripture and for inspiring others to know scripture as well.



Following college, Pat was awarded a lifetime teaching certificate from the state of Missouri and became a junior high school teacher in Northview. After two years of teaching Pat was recruited into social work and spent several years serving poor families in southern Missouri.



In late 1943, Pat left Missouri to pursue a Masters Degree in Social Work at the University of Southern California. He completed that degree in 1946, an pivotal year in which he was hired by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services and met a newly-minted nurse for LA County, Cecil Ruth Pat Birge.



Pat and Pat fell in love, were married on June 25, 1948 and settled in Mom Pats hometown of Whittier, California. Over the next three decades, the couple raised ten children, nearly all of that time at the corner of Bright and Camilla Street in Whittier, all the while attending Calvary Baptist Church where Pat served as a Deacon and in several other capacities.



During that time, he advanced through his career in social work eventually being appointed the first Director of Los Angeles Countys Department of Public Social Services which he led for 10 years until he retired in 1976.



After retirement, Pat served on the boards of several organizations and remained active all of his life in the in supporting The Gideons International, a non-profit agency dedicated to providing free Bibles worldwide.



In his later years, Pat spent time with his family, his bride of 67 years, his Lord and his Word, a source of constant challenge and comfort to him until God called Pat home on October 19, 2015, six weeks after his 100th birthday.



The family requests donations be made to the Gideons International at https://www.gideons.org/HowYouCanHelp/GeneralDonations.aspx or at PO Box 140800, Nashville, TN, 37214-0800 in lieu of flowers.