Walter T. Murphy

Walter was an Engineering Manager with NASA from 1963 to his retirement in 1997. His career started at Johnson Space Center, extending to Kennedy Space Center with 2 years at Vandenberg Air Force Base. He came to KSC in 1973 to take part in the development of the Launch Processing System. He considered this one of the major challenges at the time. He went on to manage the Guidance, Digital and Software Division. He later became the Director of Engineering Development, responsible for managing the design of all the ground support equipment and facilities at KSC. He received many awards during his career with NASA including the Presidential Meritorious Executive Award. He recently received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from Hendrix College where he received his BS degree in Physics. He later received a Master's degree in Mathematics from the University of Arkansas.

Walter treasured both his friends and family, especially his son and his cousins. He had three major interests gardening/landscaping, decorating and duplicate bridge.

He will always be remembered as someone who "worked hard" and "played hard" and would do anything for his friends. Many of his friends have waterfalls in their backyard created by him. He exemplified hard work and led by example, never asking anyone to do anything he wouldn't do himself.

During retirement, he spent many hours at the South Brevard Senior Center in Wickham Park playing duplicate bridge, where many new bridge players benefited from his expertise and support as a bridge instructor.