Marilyn Etta Murphy Owen - Teacher

  Marilyn Etta Murphy Owen was born 26 February 1929 in Melrose Park (Chicago), Illinois, daughter of Bert Francis Murphy and Helen Melissa Smith, married at her family's farm 15 June 1947 Donald Richard Owen, died 9 March 2007, and was buried in the Jerome Cemetery.

Marilyn Murphy - Teacher at the Murphy School in 1946

Students at the Murphy School in 1946

First Row: Judy Beer, Larry Dove and Jerri Inman

Second Row: Richard Inman, Eleanor Rupalo

Back Row: Jim Beer, Bert Murphy, James Knapp

  Following her marriage to Donald R. Owen, Marilyn taught at the Lincoln School in Bellair Township, filling in for a teacher who was ill.  She and Donald lived in their trailer parked on her parents farm in Lincoln Township.  The next fall Marilyn and Donald moved to Iowa City where she taught in a country school outside of Iowa City.

Newspaper Clipping of  Lincoln School Students' 

Visit to the Iowegian

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  The editor sincerely appreciates the contribution to The Jerome Journal of these pictures and clipping by Kelly Jerosch of Centerville, Virginia.  The Murphy School students were identified by Richard Inman of Hamilton, Ohio.  Bert Murphy of Bettendorf, Iowa, provided the background information.

Marilyn Etta Murphy Owen, 1929-2007

Daily Iowegian - 25 April 2007

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  Marilyn Etta Murphy Owen, age 78, died peacefully at her home on Friday, March 9, 2007 from a brain tumor.

  Marilyn was born in Melrose Park (Chicago), Illinois to Bert Francis and Helen Melissa (Smith) Murphy on February 20, 1929.  She was a talented tap dancer and singer, performing publicly at a very young age.  In 1944 her family moved from Chicago to the family farm just west of Centerville.  Marilyn attended Centerville High where she trained to become a teacher and was active in the performing arts.  After graduating, she taught at the Murphy School, a one-room

schoolhouse (Appanoose County) and later at Hills (Iowa City).

  On June 15, 1947, Marilyn Murphy married Donald Robert Owen at the Murphy farm.  Through Don's career as an electrical engineer, they lived in several Midwest and East Coast cities including the Philadelphia area where Marilyn, a gifted artist, studied oil painting at the Sanski Studio.  Marilyn and Don settled in 1966 in the Washington, D.C., area where Don worked at COMSAT as an executive in satellite communications.  While Don traveled on business to almost every country in the world, Marilyn raised their two daughters and led a large Girl Scout troop.  Marilyn enjoyed accom-panying Don on several of his international travels.  After Don's death in 1992, Marilyn studied watercolor under Jean Gill.  In recent years, her love of art inspired her to travel to Paris and Germany.

  Marilyn is survived by her daughters and their husbands, Paula and William Franks of McLean, Va., and Kelly and Thomas Jerosch of Centerville, Va., as well as her brother and sister-in-law, Bert and Pat Murphy of Bettendorf and several nieces and nephews.

  Her parents, aunts, uncles and a niece, Diana Owen Glenn, preceded her in death.

Gravestone in the Jerome Cemetery of

Donald Robert Owen and Marilyn Etta Murphy Owen

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  The editor sincerely appreciates the contribution to The Jerome Journal by Richard Inman of Hamilton, Ohio, of the obituary of Marilyn Etta Murphy Owen.

Schools in Lincoln Township

Pages of the Past [Volume 18, Number 3, July 1994, Pages 6-7], the newsletter of the Appanoose County Genealogical Society, contained a map and list of names of schools that were operating approximately 50 years earlier in Appanoose County. The information was provided by Margie Crowell of the Southern Prairie AEA. Below is the map of Lincoln Township showing the six school districts and the related schools: 1 Murphy School, 2 Jerome School, 3 Butler School, 4 New Salem School, 5 North Wilson School, and 6 Farmer School.