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Joyce Murphy
May 27, 1931 - January 27, 2017
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<div itemprop="description">Joyce, 85, died Friday January 27, 2017 at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria BC. Deeply loved mother of Sean and Lise, adored grandmother to Claire, cherished sister to Don, Jacquie, Val, and Sandy, and loyal friend to countless others, Joyce was a remarkable person who will be profoundly missed. <br> <br>Born and raised in Saskatchewan during the Depression, Joyce developed the grit, optimism, and kindness that were at the core of her being. She loved reading and math, and excelled academically. In 1953 she graduated from St. Joseph’s School of Nursing, earning the 3rd highest standing in the province, She completed post-graduate studies at Boston’s Women’s Hospital ( Affiliated with Harvard), then moved to Montreal where she earned a B.N. (Ed.) at McGill, and later a B.A. and Diploma in Library Sciences from Concordia. <br> <br>Joyce committed her life to the well-being of sick children, serving for years as Head Nurse both of Children’s Medicine and the Emergency Department at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, and later working on the Psychiatric Ward. She was a slender, elegant woman who always looked chic; in the mid-fifties, she worked briefly as a fashion model. On a snowy Christmas Eve in 1957, she married Charles Lennox Murphy, a mechanical engineer and later professor at McGill. They settled on Springfield Avenue in Westmount, where they raised their children. Summers were spent camping in Maine or driving across Canada to visit family; winters, skiing at Whiteface Mountain. In 1974, the family embarked on a sabbatical year in Switzerland, exploring Europe and Morocco in their orange Volkswagen camper. Joyce loved to cook, and hosted elaborate dinner parties with effortless grace: we remember the bustle in the kitchen that led to cold cherry soup, homemade terrine and chocolate souffle, and later Mom dressed in cool black velvet, the perfect host. <br> <br>Joyce was an imaginative, fun-loving, and patient mother and grandmother. She had a great laugh. She baked bread that we ate warm with butter after school, and gingerbread houses to decorate at Christmas. She was Cato from the Pink Panther, leaping out to surprise us when we least expected it. We spent many happy hours doing crafts at the kitchen table and playing dictionary, scrabble and Picasso trifold. <br> <br>After retiring, she moved back to Victoria, happy to reunite with her siblings and her mother Elsie. She set off on adventurous journeys to Mexico, Japan, Bali, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, India, Nepal, Turkey, Poland and Hungary. She had subscriptions to the opera, symphony, and theatre, and volunteered every year at the Film Festival. We joked that she kept Munro’s in business, so voracious was her appetite for fiction - she usually had 3 or 4 novels on the go at once. She was a passionate and informed citizen, and enjoyed nothing more than a stimulating political debate. She loved doing the morning crossword in her sunny home with its glorious view of the heron rookery and Beacon Hill Park. <br> <br>Sincere thanks to the medical staff at RJH for their excellent care. In lieu of flowers, consider supporting research at RJH, and include the following with your donation: “ In honour of Joyce Murphy / to support Dr. Christine Lee’s FMT research”. Cheques can be mailed to: Dr. Christine Lee, c/o Cathy Gustafson, Room 127 - Kenning Wing, Royal Jubilee Hospital, 1952 Bay Street, Victoria, BC V8R 1J8. Online donations can be made here: https://www.victoriahf.ca/donateinhonourormemory . <br></div>