This is an edited excerpt from Pius' furneral written by Father William Treacy
 Pius' family was from Prince Edward Island but for many members of the family the roots did not go deep. The family of Pius Murphy was evidently a devout Christian family. Three of his sisters decided on a religious vocation and came out west to serve the Church in the Northwest in the Providence Community. They left sorrow behind in days when the telephone was not an ordinary means of communication, and the airplane was unheard of. Young Pius Michael felt the pain of separation so keenly that he ran away from home to get close to his sisters. Evidently his money gave out in Michigan and the young l4 year old Pius Michael went to work in the wood of Minnesota and Michigan. Anxious to prove himself he took some of the most challenging assignments, and in spite of a bone chilling fall in a lake one day, continued working, inspired no doubt by the vision of getting enough money and joining his sisters in the West.
Finally he said goodbye to the logging camps of Minnesota and moved to Olympia where one of his sisters was teaching.  There was a joyful reunion and Pius Michael set about farming the rich land in the area. The greatest blessing a man can receive from God is a good family and a good wife. His sister was to play a role in obtaining this blessing for Pius. She had a student in one of her classes by the name of Margaret Cecelia Tierney whom she greatly admired. She checked out her family and passed the message to Pius.
 Not long afterwards Pius Michael and Margaret Cecelia Tierney were married in the college chapel at St. Martins. She died in 1958. In all his years on the farm he never took a vacation. He wanted his children to know the faith that his parents gave him in his youth which sustained him in hours of loneliness and sorrow, when working in the woods or on his farm. Though he was a close family man he and Margaret sent the girls, Kathleen, Betty and Margaret Mary away to boarding school to the Sisters to nourish and strengthen their Catholic faith.
 Those who knew him well can recall his oft repeated statement "Tomorrow is the big day". There are no more tomorrows for him. There is an unending today, with God, his wife and his family.
|
