Nancy Murphy Blumstein was born in Boston Massachusetts on the first day of Summer in 1939. She was a curios and active preschooler who would sneak into the living room after bedtime and hide behind the couch to read magazines. She also, on a number of occasions, took her younger sister, Mary Gail, by the hand and went on adventures, occasionally being returned to their apartment by the Boston police.
Nancy’s biological father died of tuberculosis when she was three, and a couple of years later her Mother, Lilian Ryan Schollins married Arthur Murphy, who had a career with the Airforce, which meant that the family moved around quite a bit, adding sister Helen, and brothers Donald and Arthur (called Bitsy by the family, because he was an itsy bits baby). Around the time Nancy entered high school, Arthur became a civilian trainer at the Wichita Falls, Texas Airforce base, which became a permanent family home.
It was fate that brough Nancy and Bob together, when Bob, an airman at the base, was given a free ticket to a Nights of Columbus dance by his senior officer. At the dance, Nancy, who was still in high school, got tired of watching all the girls chat together on one side of the floor with all the boys gathering across the way, so she decided to play match maker, dragging boys to introduce them to girls to get the dance going. When it was Bob’s turn to be matched, he told Nancy, he didn’t want to dance with any of those other girls. He wanted to dance with her. Bob was later Nancy’s date to her senior prom. Nancy then graduated as valedictorian of her small Catholic, all girls high school (senior class of nine.).
Although she’d earned a tuition scholarship to the University of Texas, Nancy opted to stay at home and accept a scholarship to train as an x-ray technician. After finishing her training, she started work at the local hospital, and soon married Bob. Their first baby, a son, was named Robert. Next came Lewis, and after being honorably discharged from the Airforce, they moved to Philadelphia. Bob found work as a technician at Boing, and Nancy began her third career, (x-ray tech, then mom, then) refinishing homes the family purchased at a bargain, and resold as the family grew and they moved up the property ladder. Their first daughter, who Bob insisted they call Nancy, along with son Ted, and daughter Gail, were born in Philadelphia, completing their family.
Bob rose through the ranks at Boing while continuing his education, quickly rising to a position as engineer. Bob’s continued career growth brought him an opportunity to join Westinghouse’s Advanced Reactor Division in Western Pennsylvania. Settling in Greensburg, Nancy had a new house to refurbish, and a new place to make home. Deciding to exercise her love of music and the guitar she learned to play in Philadelphia, she volunteered to establish and direct a folk group at the local Catholic church, bringing along her children, who had all taken music lessons, thereby adding percussion, flute, and trombone to the group.
As the children began to advance through school, Nancy decided to go back to school herself, at first taking courses theology, and chemistry. And eventually deciding on a course to re-establish her x-ray credentials, in order to help the family garner extra income to prepare for upcoming college expenses.
Nancy continued her love for the guitar and singing by volunteering in the children’s ward at the local hospital, indulging all her favorite silly songs (That cat always did come back.).
When it came time to retire, Bob and Nancy decided to move to Vero Beach, Florida, where Nancy was able to dig deep into her love of ornamental gardening, transforming their front yard into a veritable jungle, full of plants, wildlife, and places where she and her grandchildren could gather and hide. She also became a full-fledged member and volunteer at McKee Botanical Garden, helping to establish butterfly gardens, among other projects. She also greatly enjoyed sharing her love of movies (especially Jane Austen, and Anne of Green Gables), and cooking and baking (especially cookies) with her grandchildren.
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