Rogues Gallery Series -- Portrait #7

Edwin Serre Murphy -- My paternal grandfather.  Called "Chief" by his immediate family, he was a very authoritarian man who was extremely strict with his three sons as they were growing up, but clearly loved his family dearly.  I have a marvelous series of letters between him and my father, written during World War II that show the affection and concern he felt for his middle son fighting so far away in the South Pacific theatre.  Chief was an admiralty lawyer working at a New York City firm.  He was an avid golfer and sailor (he owned a beautiful boat, Saga for many years), as well as a gifted pianist.  Here is a description of Chief in a letter written by my uncle:  "He had a commendable record in World War I as commander of C Battery, 7th Field Artillery, First Division.  During the Army of Occupation he was captain of the First Division’s Headquarters Troop, a regular cavalry detachment used for ceremony and show.  In civilian life he rose to a senior partnership in Kirlin Campbell Hickok & Keating, the largest admiralty law firm in the Western Hemisphere.  Protean is the correct adjective to describe his talents.  Almost everything he did he seemed to excel at: 
Swimming, horsemanship (among my most cherished possessions is the Cantigny Cup which he won in the Officers’ Jumping Contest at the First Army meet at Montabaur, Germany in 1919), photography, marksmanship (second in riflery out of 5,000 men at the Plattsburg training camp in 1916), public speaking, scholarship of the highest standard, golf, piano playing, sailing, billiards, bridge, baseball.  On the other hand his habitual outspokenness and  smoldering temper were not necessarily social assets." 

He died when I was six years old, and sadly I only have two clear memories of him.  One is of how very tall and imposing he was (he stood well over 6 feet), especially when compared to his wife who didn't quite make the 5 foot mark on the height charts.  The other is a dim memory of sitting on his lap as he played his Steinway piano, watching his hands move across the keys.