Early Life
George McWilliams Murphy was born July 23, 1929 in Detroit. He was named after his mother’s brother – George McWilliams. He would be called Mickey by all who knew him, until there were three George McWilliams in the family and having three Mickeys in the same family was too confusing. So later in life, he was called George again — but never to his spouse and siblings or nieces and nephews – he was always Mickey, Mick, Uncle Mickey, or Uncle Mick.
Mickey with his sister Margaret in 1932 (age 3)
In the photo above, Mickey (lower left) looks on at bunch of his cousins. Do you recognize any of them? This photo is probably from 1932 – 1933.
The family spent summers in St. Clair, where Mickey undoubtedly spent many happy hours on the river, swimming and eating hot dogs.
High School
De La Salle Collegiate High School, Detroit
The Murphys moved back to Detroit when Mickey entered high school. .
Their house was directly across the street from De La Salle High School (the photo above) on Glenview Avenue, where handsome Mickey was a student.
Mickey loved piano music, especially jazz (aka boogie woogie), and played piano by ear. He used to shimmy down a trellis outside his bedroom window and go to piano bars such as the Blue Note in downtown Detroit.
When the Murphys were moving out of this house, Patricia Nolan’s family was moving in. Coincidence or fate?
High School Graduation 1947
De La Salle Collegiate
College in Florida
1947 – 1948
Mickey went to college at the University of Miami in Florida for one year. Apparently, he majored in beach parties and girl watching.
He moved back to Detroit (or was forced to come home?) after that year and began working as a mechanic at Hess Cartage, where Grampa Murphy was a manager.
Engaged
Mickey was engaged to Patricia Jean Nolan (Pat). She was born on November 15, 1929 in Cincinnati.
Her family had moved to Detroit during the Great Depression.
This is Pat’s engagement photo.
Married – May 20, 1950
Pat and Mickey were married in Detroit on May 20, 1950. The center photo is of Gramma and Grampa at the wedding.
The Murphys moved into a brand new house in Dearborn after they got married.
Gotta love that dress Pat is wearing and the front end of their car!
In the early years of their marriage, Pat was busy having babies, while Mickey worked and played golf (a lot of both).
Pat and Mickey’s Children 1950 – 1968
B. Aug. 29, 1951
D. Aug 25, 2021
Sept. 12, 1952
B. July 15, 1954
D. Sept. 21, 2017
June 15, 1956
Nov. 23, 1958
June 25, 1960
Dec. 1, 1961
Aug. 17, 1968
Two Sets of Kids – Set D and Set B
The children in the photo below were born in Detroit (Set D). Through the years, it was often noted that there was a huge difference between the “culture” and childhood memories of the two sets – different interactions with their parents, different music, different social issues, etc.
Set D – Barbara, Patty, Kevin, and Mickey in a photo from approximately 1958.
and those of every kid in the neighborhood, this was the best thing
they ever got! Tina (although not in this photo), at the age of 2 and 3/4, had pretty much mastered the single flip with a full landing and was working on her back flip!
This photo is of Mickey in the latter part of the 1950s and early part of the 1960s. This was the younger dad who played in the snow with his kids, built forts with walls of ice and a treehouse without a tree (on a raised iron platform),; dragged his kids on sleds behind the stationwagon through the snow covered streets of the subdivision; took them skating on the river when it was frozen over, swam with them at Orchard Ridge Country Club and the Markel gravel pit, jumped on the trampoline with them; and played all manner of outdoor games in the backyard with enough kids for full sized teams on summer evenings until the dark and mosquitoes sent them inside.
The Set B children, pictured in the two photos below, were all born in Bluffton, Indiana, although they were back in Detroit by the end of 1970.
Most of Set B – Brian, Sean, and Harry in a phot from early 1969. Kathleen is missing, and it should be noted that she is often called Tina (since she was an infant), except by her parents, who almost always called her Kathleen.
Here’s the rest of Set B – Tina at a cottage the family had rented at Lake Webster (in northern Indiana) for the entire month of July, 1963. It was on July 4 this year that the family’s beloved Collie (Princess) was lost after being with them since Patty and Barbara were babies. She was frightened by fireworks going off next door. Sadly, they had no photos of her.
Do the Set B kids remember him differently than the Set D kids? The older kids were often galivanting, as teenagers tend to do, or had moved out of the nest by then, so they don’t know if the Mickey of their childhoods, older now, did the same things with them that he did with the Set D kids when they younger. The author leaves it to them to write a fitting description of him as a dad during the 1965 and beyond years.
Three Careers
Mickey’s older brother (Harry Joe) had asked him to move from Detroit to run a stockyard business with him in Bluffton, Indiana in the mid 1950s. It was either that, or Harry Joe wanted him to take over or merely manage the business. This was not quite clear to the children. At any rate, they moved to Bluffton, Indiana in 1956, when Kevin was just a baby. If you ever saw the sitcom called Wonder Years, the subdivision they lived in – Riverview – was much like the one in that show. Kids were everywhere, in every backyard, every neighbor’s house, and on all the gravel “streets.”
In 1960 Mickey went to New York City and learned how to be a stock broker, which was his livelihood until 1970, when the market went kaplooey. The photo on the right shows him at his desk as a stockbroker. He loved this job!
The family moved back to Detroit in time for the 1970-71 school year. Mickey worked in car sales, becoming a star performer, first selling Chevrolets, then Chryslers, until he retired.
Pat and Mickey liked to travel. when possible. It was not easy to get away by themselves with all those kids to leave behind.
Mickey continued to play golf throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s. This newspaper clipping above (courtesy Aunt Margaret’s albums) was from the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette in 1964. His kids remember this as as one of his happiest golfing memories.
Never one to shy away from a joke or a prank, this photo shows Mickey at someone’s wedding. Is he trying to steal the bride’s thunder?!
The Kids Grow Up
The photos below are the Murphy kids’ high school graduation pictures. Click on each photo to learn each of their stories.
Patty 1969
Barbara 1970
Mickey 1972
Kevin 1974
Kathleen 1977
Brian 1978
Harry 1980
Sean 1987
Mickey and Pat Become Gramma and Grampa
The kids starting getting married (details are on their individual pages), and the grandchildren starting coming. Slowly at first, then lots so that seemed like and explosion!
Their first granddaughter, Kelly Lynn McEveney, could not have been born on a better day! It was Pat and Mickey’s 26th anniversary, May 20, 1976.
By 1979, four grandchildren (pictured below in about 1981) had been born. From left to right, George McWilliams III (AKA “Little Mickey”) Murphy, Kelly McEveney, Ellyn Murphy, and Christopher McEveney. They belong to Mickey II and Patty.
By 1981 there were seven of them, born each year from 1976 through 1981 – three were Patty’s (Kelly, Chris, and Kim) and four were Mickey’s (Ellyn, Little Mickey, and the twins Justin and Erin.
(Back row) Ellyn, Mickey, Kelly, Chris. (Front row) Kim, twins Justin and Erin. These two families were complete! The photo above is from about 1984.
By the time the 21st century rolled around, there were 20 of them and a great-granddaughter!! This photo is from a family wedding . Standing in the back row are Danny Marchetti; Kim, Kelly, and Chris McEveney; George III (Insisting he be called “George” by then), twins Justin and Erin Murphy (George II’s kids); Scott Marchetti; and Sean Murphy II. Standing in the middle row are: Katie, Cate, Matt, and Mike Murphy (Cate is Brian’s, the others are Kevin’s triplets); and Kyle Marchetti. Seated or kneeling in the front are Molly Marchetti, Rosie, Bridget, and Maggie Murphy (Brian’s); Meaghan Marchetti; Taylor Shupe (George II’s granddaughter, Pat and Mickey’s great-granddaughter), and Sara Murphy (Sean’s). All Marchetti kids are Kathleen’s.
George II’s (Mickey) family and the entire Murphy North Clan suffered a terrible tragedy in 1999 when they lost their beautiful Ellyn in a car accident. She was only 22, and her daughter, Taylor, barely a toddler. From then on, Mickey and Sue took on almost exclusive responsibility for raising Taylor. Ellyn and Taylor are in this photo taken in 1998.
The Murphy’s Law Years
Mickey always loved boats, and it was hard for the kids to remember a time when there wasn’t one parked on its trailer in the driveway when they lived in Bluffton. Summer weekends were often spent taking the boat to one of the many lakes in northern Indiana. Look for a story coming to Murphy’s Chronicles about the summer they were almost lost at sea (well, Lake Erie)!
In these photos (right and below), the Murphys are on the boat they had when living in Bluffton. Looks like they were
in St. Clair.
Mickey acquired a 1941 Chris Craft day cruiser (shown in photo below) when they moved back to Detroit, probably in the mid-70s. It was docked at Klenk’s Island off Altar Road in Detroit and was only about 10 minutes from their home in Harper Woods. The Murphy clan spent many, many happy hours on this boat over the approximately 10 to 12 years that Mickey owned her.
Mickey’s sister Margaret made this bag for Pat.
Murphy’s Law docked at the Anderson’s in St. Clair
Mickey, Pat, Brian, and Barbara enjoy time out on Murphy’s Law. in about 1980.
Oops – who’s driving the boat?
In the photos above, (left) Aunts Margaret and Ethel enjoy a ride near downtown Detroit and (right) the little McEveney kids are ready to go.
Murphy’s Law at her home dock – Klenk’s Island in Detroit
The Murphy grandkids loved going for rides on Murphy’s Law. Here are Tina, Pat, Scott Marchetti (Tina’s first), and Mickey.
(Above) Brian and Mary Lopus were dating when these photos were taken. (Right) Scott Marchetti hamming it up for the camera as Mary looks on.
Grampa allows his first granddaughter, Kelly McEveney, to take the wheel – and even lets her wear his Captain’s hat!
Chris McEveney was just a toddler when he had his first, and very brief, stint as captain.
(Above) It looks like Mickey II and his family along with Harry getting ready for a ride. Does anyone recognize these kids? Harry is in the 1st mate’s chair. Is that Sue in the back waring sunglasses? The kids in the back could be Ellyn, Erin, Mickey III, and Justin. Who are the two boys on the bow?
(Above) Mickey, son-in-law Joe Newton, and brother-in-law Don Koenig enjoying a beer on the boat.
(Left and Below) Mickey was never happier than when he sat in the Captain’s chair on Murphy’s Law. The rest of the Murphys and their guests were pretty happy as well!
(Right) Here he is in St. Clair for his birthday in 1977. His cousin Rooney snitched some icing from the cake. (Below) That day’s crew for Murphy’s Law – From left, Mickey’s sister Ethel (Anderson), her son-in-law Joe Delor, First Mate Pat, and Captain Mickey.
Kathleen (Tina) and Brian working on their tans in about 1979
Pat and Kathleen (Tina) catching some rays.
(Above) Brian at the helm while Kim McEveney relaxes. ( Right) Gary Marchetti (Tina’s boyfriend at the time), Tina, Barbara, and Brian enjoy a leisurely boat ride.
Not sure what the face is about, or why Mickey is holding his shoes, but it looks like a late night out on the river!
Brian and Pat enjoying some time out on the river.
Mickey Turns Sixty!
The kids planned a surprise birthday party when Mickey turned 60 in July of 1989. The biggest surprise was the slide show they put together that chronicled his life! The photos below were created, pixel by pixel ,by a friend of Barbara’s who was years ahead of his time when it came to computers. At this time (1989), there was no software to alter photos. People (at least the Baby Boomer generation) had never seen such a thing as the photos created for the presentation at this party, shown as slides using a Kodak Carousel slide projector. Son Mickey narrated the fabricated life story, and the resulting gales of uproarious laughter and applause from the delighted guests affirmed that the show was a success! Here is a sampling of the images included in this spectacular show.
The prom at De La Salle – 1946. Mickey (on left) and his date Lucille Ball and his best friend Lee (future owner of the Roostertail) with his date Marilyn Monroe.
Mickey becomes a
G-man, or something like that, after his year
in college.
During his career, Mickey’s advice was sought after by leaders such as Reagan and Iacocca.
Near retirement, Mickey joined a professional ski team in Florida. Their shows were spectacular! Who can water ski and drink a beer at the same time? Mickey can!
This photo created perhaps the most laughter of all – Mickey as Archie Bunker., the main character in
“All In The Family.”
It was almost impossible to tell the difference between Mickey and Carrol O’Conner.
(Below) As usual, things were pretty crowded and hectic at the party. From left, Pat and Mike McEveney, Ellyn, Sean with George II pushing Sean II in a stroller, Kim McEveney, Pat (bending over), and Mickey.
Pat thinks the great new boat hat Mickey received as a birthday present is pretty funny!
All the Murphy kids at the 60th birthday party. From left, the boys: Harry, Sean, Kevin, Mickey II, and Brian. The girls: Kathleen (Tina), Barbara, and Patty.
Mickey and Pat at the birthday party with all their grandkids. (Back Row) Chris McEveney, George III, Scott Marchetti, Ellyn, Kelly McEveney, Erin. (Middle) Justin, and Kim McEveney (hidden from view). Pat is holding Sean II.
The Murphy Sisters
Mickey’s three sisters were important to him throughout all of their lives and he loved them dearly. They spent as much time together as possible. He would have done anything for them.
Murphy siblings – Ethel, Eileen, Mickey, and Margaret at Sean’s wedding in Detroit, September 21, 1991
Journey’s End in St. Clair, MI
Mickey and Eileen in a photo taken about 2013, The brother and sister shared that bond of love that only siblings share.
Fiftieth Anniversary
Pat and Mickey celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2000. The kids threw a party at the Irish American Club in Corktown. They renewed their wedding vows at the beginning of the evening.
The entire Murphy family: (Back Row) Harry, Kevin, George II (AKA: Little Mickey), and Mickey. (Middle) Sean, Barbara, Kathleen (Tina) and Pat. (Front) Brian and Patty
Sadly, this was the last big party the family was to have before losing Pat to cancer in March of 2001, just before St. Patrick’s Day.
Pat and Mickey together in a photo from 2000. This is how their children and older grandchildren remember them.
This photo of Pat and Mickey from 1999 is how their kids and grandkids remember them.
Missing Pat and Later Years
The family lost Pat days before St. Patrick’s day in 2001. When Pat was gone, Mickey’s children gathered around him, in person and by phone, as much as possible. Harry moved in with Mickey after he sold his own house in Detroit. Later, when Harry bought another house in Sterling Heights that had two separate “wings” and a pool, Mickey moved in with him. The photos below show the family in times of joy and celebration.
Here’s Grampa with Cate, Maggie, Rosie, and Bridget at their home in Huron, Ohio. He loved spending time there with them.
Here he is with his own boys – Mick, Kevin, Brian, Sean, and Harry in Huron., where they gathered for his birthday in July for many years.
Mickey with Patty and her girls, Kelly and Kim.
The family was excited when George McWilliams IV was born in 2010. His parents, however, decided that he would be called “Will” rather than Mickey.
These three had July birthdays – Mickey on July 23, Bridget on July 22, and Mick on July 15. Here they are celebrating in Huron in about 2008.
Here are all the kids with Mickey at the Marchetti home in July of 2004 to celebrate his 75th birthday.
All of the Murphy kids are with their dad for Sean’s wedding.
Here’s Mickey in Huron again with Brian and Mary’s four girls – Rosie, Cate, Bridget, and Maggie.
Together again at the Marchetti home, in 2009 to celebrate Mickey’s 80th birthday. The Marchetti’s home was a very popular location for family gatherings, and still is as of 2023.
Always ready to party – no matter his age! (Left) Cake from the 75th Birthday party (Above) Having a blast at one of many annual Christmas parties at the Marchetti’s. “party central.”
The photo below shows Mickey at one of his last St. Patrick’s Day parades in Corktown. He loved this celebration! For many years he was a member of the Fraternal Order of United Irishmen (FOUIs – pronounced foo-eze) who met monthly at the Irish American Club in Corktown. The FOUI’s sponsored the Corktown Race and other parade-day activities that raised funds to support St. Patrick’s parish, the oldest in Detroit. They also decorated the church at Christmas until it was closed.
The family lost its patriarch — a great dad, a loving grandfather and great-grandfather, a wonderful brother and uncle, and a great Irishman when Mickey passed away on May 4, 2015. He was blessed with the gift of gab (at least twice!) and was kind and loving to all of us. He loved his wife and missed her every day, his family, this entire Murphy family and its extended members. They were so important to him. He loved to laugh and was a voracious reader. He loved the stock market (and talking about it!) His family misses him dearly every day.
The Murphy's of Michigan 