Barbara Murphy and I met in the fall of 1976 when I began teaching at MVRHS and she was completing her first year there. I was teaching social studies and for Barbara, it was Spanish. We quickly became fast friends and for all these years remained so.

We had so much laughter and fun as co-teachers and we loved our high school kids. We were very serious about what we taught and we had so much fun teaching it. We were also advisors for a class or two, and had created a mud slide at one of our class events where Barbara sprained her ankle. We were so glad that it was one of us and not the students.

We laughed and carried on enjoying our classes for many, many years. Almost every Friday after the school day was over, we would gather with colleagues at the old Ocean View restaurant letting off steam and enjoying each other no matter which department any of us were from. It was great fun and a wonderful way to build school community beyond the classroom.

About two years ago, Barbara started to show signs of dementia. I had never experienced this illness in my family nor in my friends, so I had no idea how mean an illness it can be. For months, Barbara still communicated as we did different projects together, usually “paint by number” creations. But then, things seemed to move rather quickly.

Chris, her husband, did yeoman’s work because he loved her so much. I tried to help him out as best I could.

Barbara died on my birthday this past week. Later, on that same day, I was out in our backyard playing with my dog and a dove flew onto the nearby tree and I smiled.

Marge Harris
Oak Bluffs