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August 2008 Vol. 27. No. 8
Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.
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Humboldt Senior Resource Center Back issues Table of Contents
Plus in this issue catch more news, opinions, features, book reviews, and event calendars.
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Recipe for a great life
Wednesday afternoon patrons of the Serendipity Bookstore at the Eureka Public Library may be lucky enough to meet the volunteer with the twinkle in her eye, a charming 89-year-old retired teacher named Marcie Murphy. Itıs clear to me that each interaction she has with her customers is infused with Marcieıs graciousness and genuine delight at the opportunity to help people. They leave with smiles on their faces. As a girl of 17, Marcieıs plan of starting college at U.C. Berkeley was dashed when her parents divorced and she needed to think about earning a living. With $500 left to her by her grandfather, she enrolled in an eight-month secretarial course at Heald College in San Francisco, getting a job at the Caterpillar Tractor Company when she graduated. She married, had children and worked as a secretary as her children grew up. When Marcie was 42, her older daughter, then a senior at Fresno State College, encouraged her mother to go to college and get the education sheıd missed out on 25 years earlier. And so Marcie did, first taking classes at two Bay Area community colleges, then attending the University of the Pacific with the help of ³a 3 percent interest loan in my own name.² She graduated at age 47 with a 3.8 GPA, a major in history, a minor in English and a teaching credential. Thus began Marcieıs exceptional second career as a junior high school teacher, during which she taught eighth graders for 20 years. Marcie explained why she chose that grade: ³Eighth grade is betwixt childhood and adulthood. If you could reach the kids then and spark their enthusiasm for learning, theyıd go through high school with no problems. If you couldnıt reach them, theyıd drop out by tenth grade. To that end, Marcie used creative teaching techniques such as role playing. In her blended history and English classes, the students enacted a constitutional convention with the kids playing delegates who would speak on behalf of their colonies. ³I gave the goof-offs in the class the important jobs like president of the convention and parliamentarian² so theyıd pay attention. She taught students in her gifted English classes to write one-act plays, ³never having written one myself.² She said, ³I loved teaching. The money that you make is nothing itıs the delight in helping someone else. Marcie retired from teaching at 67 so she could ³take time to smell the roses.² For 14 years, her dearest friend and companion was Bill Landis, co-founder of the Humboldt County Gray Panthers, whom Murphy dubbed "a 20th century Jonathan Swift." He died in 2001. These days, she plays duplicate bridge three times a week (³to keep my brain alert²) and volunteers at the bookstore operated by Friends of the Library, the group she helped found to support the Humboldt County Public Libraryıs collection. She says, "If you love life, you can help other people in some way or another." "Itıs been a great life. Iıll be 90 on Christmas day. If I were younger Iıd have a new career. Iıd go into politics." Roz Keller is fund development coordinator for the Humboldt Senior Resource Center. |
Senior News
