Claudie Mae Medearis Murphy Obituary (1926 - 2021)

PLEASE BE ADVISED Under all circumstances, face masks or face coverings are required and mandatory to enter King-Tears Mortuary, Inc. Your temperature will be taken upon entering King-Tears Mortuary. The number of people allowed in King-Tears Mortuary will depend on the CDC guidelines at the time of the service. Please read information posted here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/funeral-guidance.html THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION AND UNDERSTANDING Claudie Mae Medearis Murphy, age 94, passed away on April 23, 2021, of a cardiac arrest. She was born at her childhood family home, 2009 Comal Street, Austin, Texas, November 4, 1926, to I. D. and Emma Crawford Medearis. She was the 4th born of 5 siblings. She joined New Hope Baptist Church as a youth and played piano for the youth choir and also 19th Street Baptist Church. Claudie attended Olive Street Elementary School and Kealing Junior High School, and she was a 1943 graduate of Anderson High School where she was the 1942 Yellow Jacket Bi-District Championship Football Team Sweetheart. She attended Prairie View A & M and Tillotson College, receiving her B.A. degree in 1947. She later earned her Master of Education degree from Eastern New Mexico University. Claudie taught second grade in Hobbs, New Mexico at Washington and Coronado Elementary schools (at Coronado she was the first African American classroom teacher), serving as a pioneer alongside her husband during the desegregation of the schools in New Mexico. She was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International; the Methodist Church Missionary Society; Lane Chapel United Methodist Church in Hobbs, New Mexico (where she played piano); the New Mexico State Teachers Association; the National Education Association; and the Board of Directors of the Hobbs Community Concert Association where one notable achievement included bringing the likes of Duke Ellington to the Southeastern New Mexico community; and Simpson United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas. Following the untimely death of her husband, Hardy Ray Murphy Sr. (renowned Austin jazz musician and trumpet player before his teaching career), she returned to Austin where she taught second grade at Norman Elementary School until she retired from AISD. She is survived by her children including: sons, Dr. Hardy Ray Murphy, Jr.; Gerald Murphy, Sr.; daughter, Dr. Debra Murphy; stepson, Stanley Murphy; and a host of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews; and relatives and friends.