Obituary

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Murphy, Bernice

The Evening Kansan-Republican

Woman Victim of Exposure

The frozen body of Mrs. Bernice Marie Murphy, 26, missing for nearly 21 hours, was found Thursday afternoon in the snow at the rear of the Newton Hotel, owned and operated by her mother, Mrs. T. H. Gustafson.

 

Dr. M. C. Martin, coroner, said death resulted from exposure. It was believed Mrs. Murphy had been lying there for several hours, possibly throughout most of the night.

 

Mrs. Murphy, whose home was in Enid, Oklahoma, had been visiting her mother for the past week and left the hotel Wednesday afternoon with the intention of paying some bills and to shop, relatives said. She was seen in the department store late in the afternoon, but when she failed to return in the evening her mother became concerned and sought by several means to locate her daughter.

 

Mrs. Gustafson, looking out of an upstairs window of the hotel, discovered the body shortly after three o'clock. She was lying at the west or open end of a roofless corridor between two small buildings. She was fully clothed and a pair of white boots protruded out of the snow.

 

There was no evidence of foul play, Dr. Martin added. Her pocketbook containing bills and change amounting to about $31 was found a few feet from the body. Her wrist watch had stopped at 7:11.

 

She was lying on her back, her head against a screen door of one building. The location is visible from the alley, through which considerable traffic passes, but the fact that the body was partially covered by snow made observation difficult, police and sheriff's investigators said.

 

Mrs. Murphy's automobile, which members of the family said she had driven Wednesday afternoon, was parked a short distance away, at the north side of the hotel building. Police were still investigating today in an attempt to contact individuals who might have seen Mrs. Murphy Wednesday night.

 

Two children by a former marriage had accompanied their mother to Newton and were staying at the hotel. Her husband, Dallas J. Murphy, arrived last night after being informed of his wife's death.

 

Mrs. Murphy was born August 26, 1924 at Porum, Oklahoma. In addition to her husband and mother, she is survived by two children, Lana Dean Hodge, six, and Dana Theodore Hodge, four; and two sisters, Mrs. J. A. Pate of Fort Worth, Texas, and Mrs. H. C. Anschutz of Newton.

 

She and Mr. Murphy were married in February 1950, at Van Buren, Arkansas. Mrs. Murphy was a member of the First Baptist Church at Putnam City, Oklahoma. Funeral services will be conducted Saturday afternoon at two o'clock at Moody's Funeral chapel with Rev. R. R. Mixon, Pastor of the First Baptist Church, officiating. Burial will be in the family lot in Greenwood cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral chapel from seven until nine o'clock this evening.

 

The Evening Kansan-Republican, Friday, February 16, 1951. Page 1.


Owner/SourceHarvey County Genealogical Society
Date16 Feb 1951
Linked toBernice Marie Murphy

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