Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Murphy, Leslie H. 1943
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Ionia Sentinel Standard, 6 Dec 1943

Funeral of Leslie Murphy on Wednesday

Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. for Sheriff Leslie
H. Murphy, 46, who died suddenly Saturday afternoon at 3:45 o’clock of a heart
attack.

Sheriff Murphy was on his farm seven miles northeast of Ionia city where he had been
assisting tenants in the construction of a fence some distance from the farm home. 
A large stump was in the fence line and the Ionia sheriff was cutting part of the
stump away.  He remarked to those assisting that was unable to get his breath.  Told
to sit down and rest Murphy collapsed and was dead when helpers reached his side.

An Ionia ambulance was dispatched to the Murphy farm home and he was brought to the
Ionia County Memorial hospital but was pronounced dead when reaching the hospital. 
He had left the county jail about 1:30 p.m. after a light meal.  During the morning
he had made a call in Boston township to settle an argument at a farm and returned
about 1 o’clock.

Ill for more than a year Sheriff Murphy had been under a physician’s care.  Members
of the family and friends, however, did not know of the heart condition to which his
death was attributed.

Sheriff Murphy came to Ionia in 1922 from McBrides where he lived with his parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Murphy on a farm.  His parents now are dead.  Born December 1,
1897, at Langston, he moved to McBrides with his parents where he attended high
school.  While in high school he played football but fractured his leg in a game at
the time when Arthur A. Rather, Ionia public school superintendent, was head of the
McBrides public schools.  

In 1922 he came to Ionia to accept a position as a member of the city fire
department.  For about six weeks he was employed at the Ionia Hayes Body plant but
left to return to the city department.  In 1924 he became fire chief, a position he
retained until January 1, 1933.

On January 1, 1933 he was appointed chief deputy sheriff by Herbert A. Ross, who had
been elected democratic sheriff.  He remained in that capacity until June 1933 when
he left the department to campaign for sheriff on the republican ticket.  In
November he was elected, defeating Ross, for the office.  In November, 1940, he was
again elected sheriff without opposition and finally in 1942.  He had announced only
a short time ago that he would not seek re-election next fall.

Sheriff Murphy was married June 2, 1923, at Stanton, to Maude Liscombe of Edmore. 
Survivors are Mrs. Murphy and three children, Corp. Leslie Morris Murphy, 19, a
member of the air force band at Harvard, Neb.; a daughter, Lorraine, 17, at home,
and a son, Joseph, 13, also at home.  Also surviving is a granddaughter, nearly a
year old; a sister, Mrs. Joseph Liscombe, of Ionia; a brother, Frank, of Saginaw;
two sisters, Mrs. Ruth Green, of Lansing and Mrs. Archie Campbell of Dearborn.

Corp. Murphy arrived in Ionia early Monday morning in a 12-day furlough after having
been notified of his father’s death Saturday by the American Red Cross.

Funeral services are to be conducted from the First Presbyterian church in Ionia
with Rev. Adam Westmaas officiating.  Burial will be at Balcom cemetery in Berlin
township.  The body will lie in state from 1 until 2 p.m. at the church.

Sheriff Murphy was a member of the Michigan Sheriff’s association, the Loyal Order
of Moose, and Masons, the Eastern Star and Royal Arch Masons F. and A. M., had been
a member of the Ionia Elks and was commander of the Ionia county unit of civilian
defense corps.

Bearers will be Harlan Eggleston, Leo Fuller, William A. Gemuend, jr., and Murrel W.
Jinks of Ionia, Ben Neve of Belding, and Ort Strong of Six Lakes.


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