This article is one of a series about people who have died with coronavirus in Ireland and among the diaspora. Read more at irishtimes.com/covid-19-lives-lost. If you would like a friend or family member included in the series, please email liveslost@irishtimes.com
EDNA MURPHY 1931-2020
Edna Murphy is fondly remembered as an active member of the community in Crumlin, and for helping to set up the local youth club in the Dublin suburb in the early 1970s.
Born on January 31st, 1931, to Christopher and Edna O’ Rourke, she was raised in Mercer Street flats near St Stephen’s Green with her five brothers and two sisters. She went to school in Whitefriar Street, before taking up a job in a local shop beside Whitefriar Street Church.
In her teens she met Patrick (Paddy) Murphy from Townsend Street, and they married in Westland Row on Easter Sunday in 1952.
Community projects
They lived in tenement housing on Townsend Street, before moving to a house on Captain’s Road in Crumlin in 1960. As the couple made their home there, Edna became a mother to six children, Mary, Frances, Olive, Patricia, Christopher and Claire. Edna was a stay-at-home mum, while Paddy worked for Dublin Corporation.
Both were involved in community projects in their local area, and with a group of fellow volunteers, helped to set up the Brú Crumlin Youth Club in 1971. The club is still going strong; Brú became a full youth service in 2008, with seven employees and a permanent home on St Agnes Road.
Edna loved baking and knitting. One of her favourite nights out was to the local bingo hall with a group of nearby neighbours. In her later years, she was fond of puzzles like sudoku, word searches and crosswords, and spending time with her 14 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
She was in general good health until she suffered a bout of pneumonia in March this year, and was admitted to hospital on Mother’s Day, March 22nd. She had contracted coronavirus, and died peacefully on March 30th, following brief visits from her children. She was 89 years old.
