Thomas Murphy

Thomas Vincent Murphy, 94, of Morgantown, West Virginia, passed peacefully after a life rich in love, service, and adventure. Born on October 30, 1930, to Clotilde and Thomas Murphy, Tom’s journey took him from the hills of West Virginia to the skies with the U.S. Air Force, across the boardrooms of Rockwell International and AAI, and around the globe with his beloved wife of 70 years, Carol Wright Murphy. A devoted husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and a deeply faithful man, Tom found joy in simple and extraordinary places alike—Sailing on Lake Lanier, casting a fly line in the streams of Ireland, Wyoming, Montana and Alaska, tending his garden, taking classes at the local university, making furniture in his wood working shop, or volunteering with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (which he and Carol helped establish at Good Shepherd), Meals on Wheels and the Forsyth County Literacy Project.

A lifelong adventurer, he was a scuba diver trained in underwater search and rescue, and later reclaimed his pilot’s license just for the joy of flight, which allowed him to come full circle on his love of aviation that started the first time he saw a plane as a young child. He actively sought ways to exercise his mind and body, even teaching himself to hit some tennis shots left-handed. An excellent athlete, he was a 2-sport athlete at West Virginia University: golf and wrestling - even becoming a Southern Conference Champion! After he earned his business degree from WVU in 1952, he served in the Air Force, then he returned to college and earned his Aerospace engineering degree (1957). He started working at Rockwell International in 1965. In 1980, as Division General Manager, he relocated the division from Ohio to Georgia. In 1987 he worked for the AAI Corporation in Baltimore, retiring in 1993 as Company President. Thus began his “six Saturdays and a Sunday” routine, which allowed him to focus his energies toward helping others. His approach to business, friends, family, and community was the same: loyalty, honesty, and desire to improve.

He is survived by his wife, Carol, his sisters Barbara Bolton and Francis (Robert) Harrick, his six children—Kevin (Amelia), Mike (Amy), Patrick (Donna), Peter (Lynne), Mary (Michael), and Kathleen (Jim)—along with 23 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. He was welcomed home by his parents, his daughter Margaret “Peggy” Murphy, and her surviving husband, David Goth and his brother-in-law Jack Bolton.

A Catholic Mass followed by inurnment will be held on Wednesday, August 27th at 11:00 AM at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 3740 Holtzclaw Road, Cumming, Georgia. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations be made to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in his honor/