Extracted from The Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Monday, July 16, 2007

FRANCES LOUISE SPRADLEY MURPHY

by Jenni Beauchamp

Frances Louise Spradley Murphy had the touch to become a student favorite in her 50 years as a home economics teacher and guidance counselor.

Ms. Murphy, 92, died from congestive heart failure Tuesday at Granbury Villa Nursing & Rehab. Services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at First United Methodist Church in Granbury, where she was a longtime member. Burial will follow at the Acton Cemetery in Acton.

Ms. Murphy's gentle approach contributed to her success with her students, her son said.

``She had a knack for homemaking. She was a great cook, a great seamstress and a great mother,'' Michael Murphy Jr. said.

Born in Rockwall in 1914, Ms. Murphy moved with her family to Highland Park, where she graduated from Highland Park High School in 1932.

She received a bachelor's degree in education in 1936 from what is now the University of North Texas.

Ms. Murphy started teaching at Dublin High School, where she met her husband, Michael Murphy Sr., who was a teacher and coach. The two were married for 60 years when he died in 1997.

``She was just a great mother and absolutely a teacher in the home,'' said her son, the couple's only child. ``She was always there when I needed her.''

Students felt the same way, said J.J. Decker, who had Ms. Murphy as a teacher in 1955 at Stephenville High School.

``At the time she was sort of a counselor to us,'' said Ms. Decker of Granbury. ``I was not her best student. I really couldn't sew. She finally gave up and had to make my dress for me so we could get ready for a style show we were going to have.''

Ms. Murphy taught at high schools in Comanche and Fort Worth before moving to Irving with her family. She returned to school to earn her master's degree in counseling from Texas Christian University.

In 1976, Ms. Murphy became a guidance counselor at Irving High School. Ten years later, she retired as a guidance counselor at MacArthur High School in Irving.

Though she gave up teaching classes, Ms. Murphy was a home economics mentor and role model to her nieces. ``We were very, very close,'' her niece Jane Spradley Haley said. ``Our father always called her our `Neiman Marcus Aunt.' She exposed us to things that girls from California never paid attention to.''

``She aged very gracefully. This woman could outthink, out-shop, outwalk and outtalk anybody. You could call her, and you could just dump your worries on her, and she never passed judgment,'' said Ms. Haley of Houston.

Ms. Murphy's skill as a teacher and counselor was noticed outside of the classroom.

She was honored by the U.S. Military Academy as an honorary enrollment officer, and she was a life member of the Texas chapter of Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, formerly the Future Homemakers of America.

Ms. Murphy was passionate about making dolls and painting.

``She made about 100 porcelain dolls. She sewed their clothes and painted them. She sold a few but gave most of them away,'' her son said.

In addition to her son and niece, Ms. Murphy is also survived by nieces Janice Spradley McCarthy of Mississippi and Susan Spradley Bell of Houston and three grandchildren.