Mary Evelyn Laird

Mary Murphy Laird, 84 of Bryan, passed away December 6, 2014 at St. Joseph’s Manor in Bryan. A celebration of her life will be at the St. Joseph’s Manor Assisted Living Facility Saturday, December 13, 2014 at 11:00 a.m.

Mary was born May 17, 1930 in Pittston, PA., the only child of Beecher and Evelyn (Eddy) Freebern. Her father was a veteran of WWI who worked as a jeweler and her mother was a nurse. She grew up in Binghamton, New York and was active in Girl Scouts, student government and played first violin in her high school orchestra. Mary attended Rider College in Trenton, NJ where she received a Bachelor’s Degree in business. At Rider she was a member of the Chi chapter of the Eta Upsilon Gamma Sorority and served as president for one year. Upon graduation she married Richard Murphy, a veteran of WWII and fellow Rider College alum and had one child, Kevin. She worked as a public school teacher for the next 30 years, initially teaching in Bloomfield, NJ, but soon moved to Neptune, NJ where she taught business shorthand and typing before switching to guidance counseling. While teaching she earned a Master’s Degree in Education from Seton Hall University in NJ. Upon retirement, Mary moved to Sarasota, FL where she lived for 18 years before coming to Bryan to live near her son and his family.

Growing up in New York, going to college at Rider and living in New Jersey, Florida and Texas, Mary made a great many friends that she stayed in regular contact with her entire life. The dozens of address books she kept attest to the fact. She was keenly interested in genealogy and her family tree, researching the Freebern’s back to Scotland and the Carpenter’s and Eddy’s back to the Mayflower and England. While living in Florida she became an avid golfer at the Palm Aire Country Club. Mary loved children, kept up with many of the students she advised and was always elated at the sight of an infant.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Richard Murphy and her second husband, Robert Laird.

Survivors include her son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and Robin Murphy; grandson, Allan Murphy; and other extended relatives to include, Donald, Lillie, Alex, Donald, Jr. Snyder and Stacey Snyder Hock.