John Patrick Murphy's Obituary
John Patrick Murphy was born January 27, 1944, in Tacoma, Washington and was the only child to John Henry and Patricia Murphy. John unexpectantly passed away on March 7, 2023, at the age of 79. After graduating from Lincoln High School in 1962, he attended Olympic Junior College in Bremerton, WA for two years, before transferring to Washington State University in Pullman, WA. He married Sharon Marie Jones on August 5, 1966. During the Vietnam conflict he enlisted in the United States Navy in November 1966. He had a few tours in the South Pacific on the USS Samuel Gompers between June 1967-October 1970 were he served as a cook in charge of Chief Petty Officers Mess. John and Sharon lived in San Diego, CA during his service years. He completed his Associates degree at Tacoma Community College in June 1971, followed by his Bachelors of Arts in Business Administration from The University of Washington, in December 1973. After college he worked as a manager at Standard Brands Paint Company. John and Sharon were blessed in July and again in October of 1981 with the adoptions of Diana Marie and Elizabeth Donn. In 1982 he opened his own business, Bookworm/ J&S Sales, a used bookstore and small retail gun shop. In addition to working his business he worked part time for H&R Block. December 1989 brought opportunity to close the business and work as a Tax Examining Clerk for the IRS. After 20 years of Federal Service with IRS, John retired in September 2010. Retirement life for John gave him endless opportunity for his favorite hobbies of fishing, camping, and traveling. He enjoyed trolling in his small boat on any lake or sitting in a chair on a dock with a fishing pole in one hand and coffee cup in the other. He cherished time with his grandsons, watching Nicholas play baseball and playing games with Joshua. John also got to travel to and around Europe and was enthralled with everything he saw and experienced. When he wasn’t out adventuring, he was tracking his cribbage wins with Sharon or on his computer managing his home weather station and researching all the places he had visited and learning trivia facts about movies and television shows. John served his church community as a religious education teacher, Eucharistic Minister, finance committee member and as a member of the Lazarus group. John was a friend to count on, always willing to help with anything. He loved time with family and friends. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Sharon, his daughters Diana (Andrew) and Elizabeth (Chris), and his grandsons Nicholas and Joshua. John, a man of faith, husband, father, grandfather, brother-in-law, uncle, cousin and friend is greatly loved and will be missed.
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