J.T. Murphy

JT “Jim” Murphy passed from this earthly home on May 2, 2019, after a brave fight to stay with those he loved for as long as possible. He was born in Altha, FL on July 5, 1939 to William and Lois Murphy.  Emerging from a hardscrabble upbringing, he joined the Navy and shipped out to exotic places like Japan and Australia.  It didn’t take long before he realized the Navy wasn’t for him. After his initial enlistment, he returned to his family home with plans to pack up and head to Australia, a land he found enchanting and full of promise.  Fate intervened when he met love of his life, Carolyn Ann Williford. They married on May 25, 1963. With her by his side, he was happy to stay put and raise a family when they moved to Mary Esther in 1968.

Without any formal higher education, he worked his way up in the local banking industry at The Associates, Barnett Bank, Bank of Mary Esther and Ready Bank where he served as the bank’s president.  No matter his title, he always sat in an office in the bank’s lobby, so that anyone could come in and sit a spell. They don’t make bankers like that anymore.

He was fiercely proud and fiercely loyal to his family and to his friends. If you were under his wing, nothing was too much to ask of him. He loved fiercely too, his wife, his children and grandchildren.  His granddaughter, Mia, asked him to walk her down the aisle along with her dad, because she wanted him right by her side on her wedding day.  He would also brag-tell the story of how his grandson, Max, sailed across the Pacific on a small sailboat and ended up in Australia – completing, somehow, the journey of his dreams.

He was predeceased by his wife Carolyn Murphy, his son Michael  Murphy, his parents, sister Floy Ann Waldorf and brother William “Billy” Murphy.

He is survived by his daughter Michelle (Greg) McCann of Shalimar; grandson Max Michael McCann of Australia; granddaughter Mia (John) McCann-Dougherty of Oklahoma; his Aunt Erlene Johns; cousin Eddie Roberts and family; niece Lori Pass and family; nephew Jessus Williford and family; and two sisters-in-law -- Ann Welch and Lois Williford.

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