Local families celebrate Irish heritage
By John Faucher
The Shamrock Club has named Bob and Terri Murphy Irish Man and Irish Rose for the 36th annual week-long St. Patrick’s Celebration in New Dublin.
The couple’s Irish Heritage can be traced back to Cork Ireland in the 1700s and extends locally to the town of Lebanon.
Bob’s family tree is 100% Irish.
His parents are the late James Murphy and Patricia Murphy (Lowney) from town of Lebanon. James and Patricia raised a family of five boys and four girls on a farm near Sugar Bush.
Bob recalls with a smile, “There were 11 of us in that house with one bathroom and one fan in the house.”
Not setting aside any of his Irish humor Bob said with a hooligan grin, “All five of us boys slept in one bed, until my oldest brother was married then there were six of us.”
After a round of hardy laughter around the Murphy’s decorated Irish kitchen table he said. “My mother used to hate it when I would tell that joke.”
Family history
Bob’s grandfather Arthur Murphy married Agnes Hurley. Both Arthur and Agnes’ parents were immigrants from Cork Ireland.
Cork Ireland is located in southwest Ireland on the River Lee which eventually flows into the Cork Harbor one of the largest natural harbors in the world.
“We have a book that takes us back into the 1700’s,” said Bob Murphy. “It’s amazing the names there that are involved with the Hurley’s, the Fitzgerald’s, O’Neil’s and there’s even a couple marriages to Murphys in there.”
Terri is the daughter of the late Dewy Mathewson and Sally Mathewson (Grote) who resides at Chatham Apartments in New London. Sally’s parents were the late Richard and Mable Mathewson. Mable’s Grote side of the family had Irish origins, once was spelled as McGrote before immigration to the United States.
“It’s very exciting to look up your family history and learn,” said Bob and Terri Murphy, who have been involved in helping with the Shamrock Club’s events and family entertainment since its early days.
High school sweethearts
Bob and Terri began dating as high school sweethearts at New London High School in 1971. In May the couple will celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary.
The couple has a son Matt and daughter Kelly, both married with children. Matt and his wife Suzie and their two daughters Rebecca and Megan live in Minnesota, but frequently travel back to New London for visits.
Kelly and her husband Ian Kling have two children Emily and Isaac, both attending New London schools.
Bob and Terri love spending time with their children and four grandchildren at any opportunity they can get. The couple is often seen at school events cheering them on.
Terri worked for nearly 30 years at St. Joseph’s Residence in New London where she served a number of roles before her retirement six years ago. During her time at St. Joesph’s she saw and helped facilitate the major expansions of the home’s chapel, memorial rose garden, activity room, Trinity Terrace and Marion Heights Apartments.
Bob recently retired from Key Sales Food and Brokerage Company in 2019. He co-founded the company 27 years ago with a business partner from Scotland. Together they grew the company from 10 employees to 50 across the central United States.
Bob still continues to manage a few larger clients for the firm on a part-time basis.
He also plans to help his son-in-law Ian on his Christmas Tree Farm with over 11,000 trees established southwest of New London near the Murphy home on Klatt Road. Ian plans to sell the first trees off the farm in just two years from now.
The couple is looking forward to spending more time with family and traveling together now that they are both retired.
Judy McDaniel of the Shamrock Club of New Dublin said they are honored and proud to have the Murphy’s as the 2020 Irish Man and Irish Rose.
“They have done a lot to help us out through the years,” said McDaniel.
New London’s first St. Pat’s parade
Bob recalls the first unofficial Irish parade in New London.
“It was Mike Coyle, Jim Murphy, Jerry Murphy and a few going from Coyle’s on the corner to the Midtown for a drink,” said Murphy. “Basically it was at that time an illegal parade.”
McDaniel who was also there for the first unofficial parade recalls some of the Irish families had kept their children out of school.
“Well, they just happened to be sick that day,” said McDaniel.
“Everybody working at the bank was looking out the windows wondering what was going on. We did it right at 12 o’clock because back in those days at noon the police department was always up patrolling by the high school. So we knew we would be safe for about 5-10 minutes,” said McDaniel with a smile.
Terri said after that the police department asked the group to organize and make the parade official.
That’s when Pup Loughrin, Mike Coyle and Melissa Mulroy organized a meeting at Pup’s Irish pub to plan the first official parade. They met monthly and then weekly leading up to the first official parade the following year.
At the first official parade with permission, they were only allowed to use one side of the street.
The parade routes have changed to accommodate steady growth since into the largest St. Patrick’s Parade in the state with an audience of over 20,000.
The parade was moved to a Saturday, and a week of Irish family entertainment and activities sponsored by the club also grew larger.
“Our week of celebration is family oriented and we’re really proud of that,” said McDaniel.
“It’s for our children and our grandchildren to understand the heritage and learn the lyrics, the jokes, the good songs and the history of where their grandparents come from. There’s a lot to share with the families,” said Terri Murphy.
“We’re looking forward to seeing everybody at all of the events next week,” she added.
“We’d like to thank the Shamrock Club for thinking of us and we’re looking forward to a warm sunny day, a good crowd and safety for everybody,” said Bob Murphy.