Lea Renee Murphy

She was born in Kansas City on August 9th, 1958, and passed away on one of her favorite holidays, July 4th, 2021.

Lea was married to her high school sweetheart, Dennis Murphy, for 44 years, had four daughters, fourteen grandkids, and numerous people she considered her family by choice whether they liked it or not. People have described her as strong, determined, feisty, others minded, outgoing, and a problem solver, among other things.

Lea made friends everywhere she went, and frequently embarrassed her daughters when they were growing up with her ability to talk about anything and everything with people she had just met for long periods of time. She had the ability to see through the front that people put up to find the person underneath, and made every effort to help them to know that they were loved, appreciated, and valued. Everyone was welcome at Lea’s house, and there were frequent impromptu gatherings because of her hospitality and way of making everyone feel at home.

She was a passionate supporter of the Kansas City Chiefs, and everyone knew not to call or interrupt her during the game. Yelling at the TV was a weekly occurrence during football season, complete with intense discussion on coaching decisions and play calls. She has passed that love of football on to several of her grandkids, much to her delight.

Lea grew up in Raytown, Missouri, then moved to Gentry County as a teen. She was involved in many things in high school, including cheerleading for the Albany Warriors. After graduating from Albany High School in 1976, she attended Northwest Missouri State. After her marriage to Dennis, she moved to Arizona to be with him while he was in the Air Force. She completed her bachelor's degree at Arizona State University, where she double majored in Microbiology and Medical Technology. She pledged Alpha Omicron Pi during college, and proudly displayed her sorority paddle for years. Later, Lea and Dennis moved back to Kansas City to start new careers and raise a family. Lea enjoyed her work at Menorah Medical Center as a medical technologist, where she made some lifelong friends. She eventually chose to pursue Avon as a career to allow her more flexibility after she had children. In true Lea fashion, she quickly became a top seller, earning several awards, honors, and vacations that she and Dennis enjoyed together.

Lea was involved in many volunteer organizations over the years. She was well known as a fundraiser for several private Christian schools; coordinating well attended auctions, organizing walk-a-thons, and arranging benefit dinners featuring famous speakers, athletes, and writers throughout her time as a volunteer. She participated in Lead to Read, a literacy program that she absolutely adored. Her true passion, however, was working as a church youth leader and instilling a love of Jesus in tweens and teens. She coordinated and led many mission trips to locations including Puerto Rico, Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and many others. She poured herself in to her youth group kids, pushing them to be the best they could be, even when they might have preferred that she not care quite so much. Her focus was always to demonstrate Christ’s love to every person that walked in the door and to instill a love for Jesus that would last through the struggles of the world. To the very end, she kept in touch with the now-adults that grew up through the youth group, and was able to see the fruits of her labor. She loved them all deeply and took joy in seeing them as adults.

Family was incredibly important to Lea. This not only included her family by blood, but her family by choice. Numerous times in her life she met someone and would say that she just knew they were meant to be her family; she drew people in to her life and her family circle as easily as breathing. She loved her siblings, cousins, extended family and just called everyone 'kin' when it became too confusing to list the actual title. She adored her grandchildren, spending as much time as she could with them. She made each one feel special and included in her life. Cousin time at Nana's house was always a favorite, as well as special one on one Nana dates. She prayed over her grandchildren daily, and made each one a special name acrostic canvas with unique bible verses, praying over what life verses to share with them. Lea was a wonderful Nana, and impacted the lives of each of her grandchildren in a way that will continue on even after her passing.

Lea was survived by her loving husband, Dennis Gragg Murphy; Her daughter Amanda Novak (Daniel), and grandchildren Shane, Fallon, Lukas, Katie and Zelda; Daughter Melinda Atwell and grandchildren Riley, Micah, Caleb, and Cora; Daughter Lydia Lombardi and grandchildren Eliana, Naomi, Enoch, and Attalia; daughter Sara Wiechens and granddaughter Kendall. She is also survived by her father Douglass Dale Foster (Sharon) and mother Marjorie Lea Price, and siblings Douglass Neal Foster (Teresa), Lynn Foster Hunt (Russ), David Ross Gunter, Teddi Hamilton (Alex), Christopher Foster, Ashley Handley (Dave). She also leaves behind a large extended family, all of whom think of her fondly and will miss her.

As we grieve this overwhelming loss, we will remember the saying that she would tell us whenever we felt like something was insurmountable: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.