HELEN ELIZABETH MURPHY-WILLIAMS
Funeral services for the late Mrs. Helen Elizabeth Murphy-Williams were held on Jan. 24 at 10 a.m. from the Clara G. Hudson Memorial Chapel with Rev. Joseph Feagin, officiating. Burial followed in Magnolia Cemetery. Hudson Funeral Services, Greenville directed.
Helen Elizabeth Murphy-Williams was born May 31, 1933 to the late Mr. Lewis Hood Murphy Sr. and Mrs. Lucille Hudson-Murphy. She departed life’s journey on Jan. 9 at L.V. Stabler Memorial Hospital, Greenville.
Helen was educated in Greenville School System where she attended Baptist Hill Elementary School and later received her high school diploma with honors from Greenville Training School in Greenville. Helen attended Business College at Winonia Trade School in Birmingham.
As a young girl, Helen participated in various activities, such as but not limited to, being an All-Star basketball athlete representing #68 on the All Girl Greenville Training School team. She was also competitive in playing tennis and volleyball. Helen enjoyed playing checkers, monopoly and the card game pitty pat with her only son Bernard J. Williams Jr. and her husband the late Bernard J. Williams Sr. As an adult, Helen fulfilled her dreams to move to New York City where she resided with the late Mrs. Lillian Straughn in the Bronx, New York.
Shortly after arriving in New York City, Aunt Lillian Straughn introduced Helen to Bernard J. Williams Sr. They courted for four years and the two were married in 1959. On July 5, 1964 they welcomed with an abundance of joy their only son, Bernard J. Williams Jr.
She worked as a secretary for various New York publishing companies and after working hard to achieve the secretarial level of Executive Secretary, Helen successfully became the primary executive secretary for Mr. William Randolph Hearst Jr., of Hearst Publishing Inc. in Midtown Manhattan, New York City where they published Esquire, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Good House Keeping, Country Living and Woman’s Day to name a few well known household magazines.
After twenty five years of working, Helen resigned to become a full time homemaker and to return to Greenville to take care of her elderly parents. Mrs. Helen Murphy-Williams was preceded in death by her father, Mr. Lewis Hood Murphy Sr.; mother, Mrs. Lucile H. Murphy; brothers, Lewis Murphy Jr. and William Ivy Murphy; sister, Deanna Hilson; husband, Bernard J. Williams Sr. and brother-in-law, James Z. Loveless.
Helen leaves to cherish her memories her only son, Bernard J.(Sher`ri A.) Williams Jr.; sister, Dorothy Loveless; sister-in-law, Ora Murphy; brother-in-law, Albert Hilson; nephew, Randolph Murphy; nieces, Cynthia (Tofig) Murphy and Dorthea Hilson; four great nephews and one great niece.
We will best remember Helen by her smile, laugh, cooking, working in the yard, playing with her darling cousins, Tylia A. Jordan and Tycori A. Cook and having long talks with her cousin Ebony O. Cook and friends, Sara Brown and Paulette Powell. She also enjoyed eating fresh salmon, spinach and spending time with her son dining at Outback Steakhouse in Montgomery.
Mrs. Williams’ memories and legacy will not only live within her family. They will also remain with the residents of Greenville. She will be truly missed from walking throughout the Greenville community.