MURPHY

SOLDIER- John Howard Murphy, 85, died Saturday, April 22, 2006 at the Apostolic Christian Home in Sabetha, where he had resided for the past 5 years.
John was born December 26, 1920 on the Ioway Indian Reservation in Brown County, the son of Thomas and Dora McKown Murphy. He had been a Soldier area resident since 1945.
He was an Ioway Tribal member and a member of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Rulo, Nebraska. He later attended St. Patrick Catholic Church in Corning. John attended Catholic convent school in Rulo and the Grand View School on the reservation.
John assisted his family on the farm and later at the Soldier Rest Home. John passed away very appropriately on Earth Day, as he loved Mother Earth and all of her creatures. He spent the greater part of his life in the outdoors and was of the gentle spirit. He was preceded in death by his parents; his sisters, Alice Borgeson, Margery and Margaret Murphy; and his brother, Jean Murphy.
Survivors include his only niece, Rosemarie Eagle and her husband, Fritz Keehn of Soldier; a great-nephew, Kent Miller and his wife, Vicki of Soldier; a great-niece, Gia Mallory and her husband, Arnold of Kansas City; a great-great-nephew and 2 great-great-nieces; special friends, Leo and Ida Nadeau, Earl and Julie Bahret and family and Terry and Peggy Hankerson and family all of Soldier.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Rulo, Nebraska prior to Memorial Day. Inurnment will be at the Partlow Cemetery on the Ioway Reservation.
Memorials may be given to the Apostolic Christian Home or Nemaha County Hospice c/o Mercer Funeral Home, Box 270, Holton, KS 66436. Online condolences are available at www.mercerfuneralhomes.com