Peggy Murphy, Southold humanitarian, dies age 91
Peggy Murphy, renowned Southolder, died Aug. 7 at age 91. Her legacy of advocacy and education on the East End will be remembered by community members far beyond the boundaries of Southold Town.
Odds are Ms. Murphy has touched your life in some shape or another if you’ve lived in Southold or passed through.
Families who have frequented CAST in Greenport for dinners; community members who were ill and paid a visit from the Southold Sunshine Society; music aficionados who’ve enjoyed music at Silversmith’s Corner in Southold; and children who have attended Southold Historical Museum’s youth education program are all tied together by the North Fork force for good that is Peggy Murphy. Her efforts earned her The Suffolk Times’ Civic Person of the Year award in 2010.
Southold alumni will also recall Ms. Murphy from her 29 years teaching at Southold Elementary School from 1966 until her retirement in 1995. That background in education would serve approximately 15,000 additional children throughout Ms. Murphy’s tenure as committee chair for Southold Historical Museum’s education of youth program.
“I enjoyed almost every minute of it,” Ms. Murphy told The Suffolk Times in an October 2021 interview regarding her time on the committee. She added that she “can’t say enough about the quality of people who volunteer … It wouldn’t have happened without their enthusiasm.”
Her decades of humanitarian work, reaching all walks of life, remain well appreciated by the people she touched throughout her 91 years as a Southold cornerstone.
Ms. Murphy’s neighbor, John Barnes, who serves as the president of the Southold Historical Museum, spoke highly of his Horton Lane compatriot in an Aug. 29 interview with The Suffolk Times.
“Peggy was my next-door neighbor,” he said. “Whether you knew it or not, she was also yours.”
Her sizable porch was often full of wheelchairs, walkers or other devices to help whoever needed them, Mr. Barnes said. The Golden Rule, “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you,” is a notion that was written on Ms. Murphy’s soul.
“She was a person who … the local community knew they could depend on her, and she would make the right phone call to get things done,” Mr. Barnes said.
At Christmas time, for many years, Ms. Murphy would clear out her living room to make room for a beautiful Christmas village chock full of tiny houses for all who were interested to visit.
“Some people trod through life and leave no trail. Peggy Murphy left a lasting mark on Southold and Greenport in her many years of service to community and will long be remembered by those who knew her,” Mr. Barnes said.
