“Doris Johnson, daughter of David and Elizabeth Abrahamson and formerly of Brockton and Gilford, NH, passed away at the age of 90 on October 31, 2012. She was born to Swedish immigrants in New Sweden, ME and moved with her family to the Campello (“Little Sweden”) section of Brockton, MA. A long time member of the Swedish Baptist Church (now, Trinity Baptist), she attended business school in Boston and worked in the shoe industry there. She met and married Richard Murphy of Boston with whom she bore three sons (the eldest passing shortly after birth) and assisted with his small businesses over the next two decades. Upon Richard’s untimely death, she continued to live in Brockton working as a single mom providing for her children. A few years later, she married Eldon Johnson, also of Brockton and a long time supervisor at Polaroid Corporation. Upon his retirement, they moved to Gilford, NH to be closer to her son Skip Murphy, his wife Debbie and their two sons Dan and Ian. During the last few years of her life after Eldon’s passing, she lived in Oklahoma City to be near her youngest son, Rick Murphy, his wife Susie and their son Preston; she was well cared for and loved during that time.
A private family burial service is planned for the family plot in Coweeset Cemetary in Brockton, MA. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund ( a 4 star Charity Navigator rating).”
A friend emailed me upon hearing of the news – I thanked him for reaching out and offered this in return:
Thanks – much appreciated. She lived a long life – 90 years old so she had seen a lot of changes during her life. Along that path, she taught me a few simple life lessons that have never failed me when I have listened to her voice in my head and applied them correctly:
- Always show up
- Persistence pays off. Perhaps not in the way you originally wanted, but there will be a reward nonetheless.
- Stand up for yourself – I will for you, but there will come a time when you won’t want me to and then a time when I will be unable to. So, learn to be self-responsible.
- You will always be a parent.
I am sure that as memories bubble up, there will be others, but these were the biggies.
The reality check was not one I really expected – and I lay it out here as I was taken by surprise by the Newspaper industry during this whole process:
The Holidays are upon us. It’s that special time of year when atheism gets more Constitutional religious freedom than any actual religion, the lefts devotion to separation of church and state does not prevent union government employees from enjoying paid days off for…religious holidays, and we get to remind ourselves that what believing in a power greater than yourself really means is trusting a godless government that fears no power greater than itself to act as our moral compass.
Ah, what’s a little secession between states, eh? So a state is no longer under the auspices of the United States, it’ll be an orphan. Big deal. What do you think will happen? That the forlorn and forgotten former territory of the United State will sit in pathetic darkness like a shivering punished child at an Oliver Twist orphanage after ditching all of the other states to go off on its own, and now is no longer welcome? That trade will cease between the former compatriots, and an occasional border skirmish will break out like a resentful anthema on the blistered skin of envy? C’mon, that won’t happen…. okay maybe that will happen.