Joan Girard Murphy ’54

Joan Girard Murphy ’54, of Wilmington, Del.; Feb. 2, after a long illness. At Brown, she was active in Brownbrokers. After graduation, she worked as a chemist with the DuPont Company in Georgia and her supervisor later became her husband. They moved to Nashville in 1958 and started a family. In 1963, the family moved to Wilmington. She enjoyed being a mother and homemaker and was a skillful seamstress, making draperies for the home and clothing for herself and her children. Later, she became a tax preparer for H&R Block. She served as treasurer and member of the finance committee for her church, St. David’s Episcopal, and was a longstanding member of a local investment club. She taught classes in tax preparation and personal finance. She enjoyed vacations at the beach, dance classes, birdwatching, gardening, a nightly cocktail, tutoring in elementary schools, teaching her granddaughters to knit, do needlework, cryptograms, and puzzles of all kinds. She is survived by four children and their spouses and 11 grandchildren.