Barbara A. Murphy, a homemaker who worked as a school lunch aide, died Friday at Seasons Hospice at Northwest Hospital of chronic pulmonary obstructive disease. She was 82.
The daughter of William Thomas Chilson and Barbara Heidel Chilson, Barbara Ann Chilson, the eldest of seven children, was born and raised in St. Louis, where she graduated from St. Catherine Laboure School.
She was working as a bookkeeper for Crown Cork & Seal in St. Louis when she met her future husband, Daniel Paul Murphy Jr.
"She met my dad at a Catholic singles club in 1963 and married him on Thanksgiving Day that year, just days after President Kennedy was assassinated," said a daughter, Eileen Murphy, a former City Paper reporter who now lives in Berkeley, Calif.
She became a homemaker in 1964 after the birth of the first of her seven daughters. In 1968, she moved to Woodlawn when her husband took a job at the Social Security Administration's Woodlawn headquarters.
The couple moved to Reisterstown in the early 1970s.
Ms. Murphy said that while her mother wouldn't describe herself as a feminist, her parents had a "marriage that was ahead of their time."
"They were partners in everything, from changing diapers to washing dishes. My mom mowed the lawn, painted the house and balanced the checkbook," she said.
Mr. Murphy died in 1995.
Mrs. Murphy worked as a school lunch aide at Glyndon Elementary School, and was a communicant for 43 years at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, where she attended Mass daily.
Interested in current events, she was enjoyed reading newspapers and watching PBS' "NewsHour" each evening. She was also an avid reader of nonfiction.
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Wednesday at her church, 65 Sacred Heart Lane, Glyndon.
In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Murphy is survived by six other daughters, Patricia Murphy and Monica Murphy, both of Rosedale, Kathleen Murphy and Elizabeth Murphy, both of Reisterstown, Peggy Murphy of Los Angeles, and Maureen Murphy of Windemere, Fla.; four brothers, William Chilson of Marco Island, Fla., James Chilson of Lake St. Louis, Mo., Richard Chilson of Florissant, Mo., and Robert Chilson of Chesterfield, Mo.; five grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.