Leo Verne Murphy 1909-1995

MURPHY, COX, WILEY, CARLSON

Posted By: LuRee Runnells (email)
Date: 2/4/2006 at 14:55:22

Leo Verne Murphy, 85 of Keokuk, died June 29, 1995 at his home. He was born July 12, 1909 in rural Keosauqua, Iowa to Charlie and Carrie C. Cox Murphy. He was married June 14, 1953 in Washington, Iowa to Nellie Wiley. She preceded him in death Aug. 15, 1994.

Survivors include a sister, Clarissia Carlson of Bloomfield, Iowa; and several nieces and nephews. He also was preceded in death by three brothers.

He attended rural schools in Van Buren County and graduated from Milton High School in Milton, Iowa and received his B.A. Degree from Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa. He did graduate work at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls and Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois.

Mr. Murphy served in the Unived States Army during World War II. He had lived in the Pulaski, Iowa area until moving to Keokuk in 1953. He was an elementary teacher for 34 years and taught in the Keokuk public schools, retiring in 1975.

He was a member of Bel Air Baptist church and was an ordained deacon. He also was a member of American Legion Post 41, Gideons International and Retired Lee County Teachers. He was a life member of the National Education Association, Iowa State Education Association and Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternal Organization.

Services are 11:30 a.m. Monday, July 3 at Bel Air Baptist Church with the Revs. Mike Langford and Kay Ames officiating. Burial with Military Rites by V.F.W. and American Legion in Keokuk National Cemetery in Keokuk, Iowa. Visitation is after 1 p.m. Sunday, July 2, at DeJong's Funeral Home with family meeting friends from 7 to 9 p.m. Memorials may be made to Bel Air Baptist Church or Gideons International.
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Leo is my uncle; a note of interest - In 1934, Leo acquired his first teaching position at rural Brumley school and received $50.00 per month and taught there for four years, then he went to Atkins, his home district and recived $60.00 per month and was there for three years.

Leo being a bachelor at the age of 33, was drafted in the Army on May 15, 1942, inducted at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. After his honorable discharge in Nov. 1945, the following spring the Pulaski, Iowa School Board offered Leo a teaching job of Kindergarten, first and second grades. He had serious doubts about signing a contract and gave it much thought because of what parents would think of a man teaching those lower grades. Several mothers thought the school board was "crazy". But in a short time into the school year, they became his biggest supporters. While Leo was teaching at the Pulaski School system, he organized the "famous" Pulaski Rope Jumpers, that had come to wide acclaim in Iowa by their exhilarating rope jumping performances -- schoolgirls K, 1st & 2nd grade rope jumpers that performed in Des Moines, Ames and other areas for five years before he went back to college. When he first started with this rope jumping act, he had somewhat of a puzzle to occupy little girls during recess on stormy days, boys played cowboy, but girls needed something else, so he began to guide them in rope-jumping exercies and it became a hobby with him, and quite a pleasurable experience for the girls. He had trained 23 experts in five years. His lively bunch all call him "Leo" -- and he loved it. Yes, he buckled galoshes, opens lunch boxes pulls out stiff thermos bottle corks, all those arduous duties which fall to primary teachers. What's more, he had his 12 kindergarten pupils all day. At one time, being a bachelor at the age of 40, he was probably the only male primary school teacher in the State of Iowa. In 1993 I had asked Uncle Leo to write about his life, and I also have a collection of many newspaper articles about him and the "Murphy's Jumperettes" from Pulaski, Iowa.