Renate (“Nicky”) Helene Murphy, Wife, Mother, Grandmother, and traveler extraordinaire, died on June 16, 2025, at 94 years of age in Paoli, Pennsylvania.
Born in Dresden, Germany, in January of 1931, she and her family immigrated to America in 1937 and settled in Forest Hills, New York, before eventually moving to Manhasset, New York. She began attending Wheaton College in Massachusetts at the age of 16. Transferring to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, she earned both her undergraduate and master’s degrees.
Nicky and her late husband, Jim, moved to Darien, Connecticut, in 1958 to raise their family and remained there until 1996 when they retired to Vero Beach, Florida, and New London, New Hampshire. She spent the last decades of her life in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, affording her the opportunity to be closer to her four grandchildren.
The central focus of her life was the care and welfare of her children, Lauren, Chris, and Alison. She devoted her endless supply of energy to shuttling them to and from school and activities. The drives to early-morning swim practices in the dead of winter were something to be remembered, when just getting the swimmers out of bed was an undertaking. And no swim meet was complete without her manning a stopwatch. This continued well into her 80’s with her grandchildren, attending their local sporting events and even traveling out-of-state to ensure their biggest cheerleader was in attendance.
Her culinary expertise was such that if her husband had a complaint, it was that he rarely ate the same thing twice. If suddenly found absent from home, she was most likely doing a last-minute run to the grocery store to pick up a crucial ingredient. Between her, her sister, and her mother, holidays were best spent eating at home, as the trio put all restaurant offerings to shame.
She loved playing tennis, golf, and bridge. She endeavored to learn new games and participate in new activities into her 90’s. And, of course, the travel! After making sure her children were on a good footing, she became a travel agent and shuttled her clients across the globe. And herself and her husband, too. Was it six or seven continents? Well, Antarctica was definitely checked off!
Nicky is survived by her daughters, Lauren Murphy and Alison Manthorp (son-in-law John Manthorp), her son, Chris Murphy, and her grandchildren, Catherine, Jack, Sarah, and Connor Manthorp.
She will be buried in a family plot in Port Washington, New York, alongside her husband, Jim Murphy, who predeceased her in 2023, her father and mother, Walter and Florence Maron, and her sister, Beate (“Bebe”) Banfield.
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