When the Hill & Lake Press was founded in 1976, one of the early volunteers was gifted illustrator Roger Boehm, resident of The Kenwood Gables, creator of the goose logo and countless other pen-and-ink illustrations for years before he had the effrontery to decamp to California. What would we do?
That was when our quiet neighbor Joyce Murphy stepped into the breach. Already an award-winning contributing cartoonist for the paper, soon enough she was adding elaborate illustrations for two-page layouts in her trademark pointillist style, and when needed, she took over designing and editing the whole paper, a freakish amount of work which she did with special care for design from her home on Girard Avenue and 22nd Street.
She quietly accepted the standard Hill & Lake Press wages at the time — zero — because she loved our community and loved making art for us. We only found out after she retired as editor that she had graduated from the University of Minnesota at age 50 with a BA degree in Fine Arts.
Joyce was so humble and dedicated she never pulled rank on her amateur journalist colleagues, tolerating the irascible consensus process that miraculously produced a paper every month.
We are sad to report that Joyce Murphy passed away December 1 at age 89. She is survived by her stalwart husband of 67 years, Ron Murphy; daughter Julie (Bob Robson); sons Dan (Deb) and Owen (Jackie); special cat Pumpkin; twin sister Joan Imlay; grand children Michael (Barbara), David, Violet (Kaylee) and Olivia; and nieces, other relatives and many Hill & Lake Press friends and beyond.
Funeral services were held December 13 at Davies Chapel at Washburn-McReavy. In lieu of flowers, the family suggested memorials to the Animal Humane Society of Golden Valley and Planned Parenthood. Welcome to the Big Artist’s Studio in the Sky, Joyce. Your fellow community journalists have no doubt you’ll be illustrating the monthly news in heaven, adding badly needed humor and art to the angels in their heavenly work.
