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4B • SUNDAY, AUGUST 3, 2003
J
Napoleon
in Logtown. He was dedicated to ensuring that the children displaced by the closing of the Logtown school were not forced to go all the way to Bay St. Louis for an education.
He pushed for a school in Pearlington, where many people were relocating, and the Charles B. Murphy Elementary School was named after him for his efforts.
“Our house had a swinging door you might say,” said Nancy. “My mother never knew how many she might feed; wte always had friends, but living on a farm we always had plenty ... meat, apples pears, pecans, berries. My mother did a lot of canning.”
The swinging door extended area wide and the women say that many times it would take them to their close neighbors, the Hovers. Mother Pearl Hover played piano and often the young people would end up there to dance and sing.
At the Murphys, Mary always had a sweet treat for the group, baked pears, molasses cookies, a banana sandwich, or just sweet cream and sugar on bread.
“In the evening we would catch fire flies and mosquito hawks on cotton on a string ... you never see fire flies anymore ... and watch the cows come in from the field. That was our big fun,” said
Nancy. “We made our own fun.”
“We would sit on the porch on Sunday evening and we could hear the Baptist preacher and the singing. We were the only Catholic family in town, but it was always like one big family. We went to the youth parties and when the
Baptist’s had _______________
a traveling preacher mother would take her turn at making a meal for him just	like
everyone, else,” Nancy said.
“It	was
such and easy life and it me
A favorite memory of Nancy and Lucille's is of Grandmother Murphy’s “Hatching Trunk.”
If the children were good she would go to the trunk and it would “hatch” a treat It could be anything and
children were good she would go to the trunk and it would “hatch” a treat. It could be anything and sometimes might be just a nut.
Murphy land went clear from the road to the river and at the river sat Nancy’s favorite tree, a large Cypress, where she spent
_____________ time alone
reading and contemplating life.
“When NASA widened the they
river
took
tree,*
said.
my
Nancy
Like
fami-
the
makes
want to cry if sometimes might be just a nut,
I think too deep about
it,” she said. _______________
“I was talking
to my brother the other day and I said, do you think we were as happy as we think we were? We were free to run the range. I guess it (the test site) brought some jobs so people with an education could stay at home, but it just broke people’s hearts to have to leave and I don’t know if it was worth all that heartache.”
A favorite memory is of Grandmother Murphy’s “Hatching Trunk.” If the
many lies
Murphy’s decided to retain their rights	to
______________ their land
and	only
lease it to the government. Both women visit as often as they can though these days they are dependent on family members for a ride there, easier these days now that there is a road. For many years access to the area was by horse and wagon or by boat down the river, the women remember.
“But we can go there anytime we want,” said Lucille, whose husband Michael is buried there. “I went there