Mrs. Pamela Murphy

Pamela Murphy, widow of WWII hero and actor,
Audie Murphy, died peacefully at her home on
April 8, 2010. She is survived by sons, Terry and
James. Pam established her own distinctive 30
year career working as a patient liaison at the
Sepulveda VA Hospital, where she was much
beloved. Services were held at Forest Lawn
(Hollywood Hills) on Friday April 16.

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October 7, 1923 - April 8, 2010
Pam Murphy, the widow of Audie Murphy, was
involved in the Sepulveda VA hospital and care
center over the course of 35 years, treating
every veteran who visited the facility as if they
were a VIP. Pam Murphy died at the age of 90.


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After Audie died, they all became her boys. Every last one of them.

Any soldier or Marine who walked into the
Sepulveda VA hospital and care center in the last
35 years got the VIP treatment from Pam Murphy.
The widow of Audie Murphy – the most decorated
soldier in World War II – would walk the hallways
with her clipboard in hand making sure her boys
got to see a specialist or doctor ­ STAT. If they
didn't, watch out. Her boys weren't Medal of
Honor recipients or movie stars like Audie, but
that didn't matter to Pam. They had served their
country. That was good enough for her. She never
called a veteran by his first name. It was always
"Mister." Respect came with the job. "Nobody
could cut through VA red tape faster than Mrs.
Murphy," said veteran Stephen Sherman, speaking
for thousands of veterans she befriended over the
years. "Many times I watched her march a veteran
who had been waiting more than an hour right into
the doctor's office. She was even reprimanded a
few times, but it didn't matter to Mrs. Murphy.
"Only her boys mattered. She was our angel."

Sepulveda VA's angel for the last 35 years died
peacefully in her sleep at age 90.

"She was in bed watching the Laker game, took one
last breath, and that was it," said Diane Ruiz,
who also worked at the VA and cared for Pam in
the last years of her life in her Canoga Park
apartment. It was the same apartment Pam moved
into soon after Audie died in a plane crash on
Memorial Day weekend in 1971. Audie Murphy died
broke, squandering million of dollars on
gambling, bad investments, and yes, other
women. "Even with the adultery and desertion at
the end, he always remained my hero," Pam told me.

She went from a comfortable ranch-style home in
Van Nuys where she raised two sons to a small
apartment - taking a clerk's job at the nearby VA
to support herself and start paying off her faded
movie star husband's debts. At first, no one
knew who she was. Soon, though, word spread
through the VA that the nice woman with the
clipboard was Audie Murphy's widow. It was like
saying Patton had just walked in the front door.
Men with tears in their eyes walked up to her and
gave her a hug. "Thank you," they said, over and over.

The first couple of years, I think the hugs were
more for Audie's memory as a war hero. The last 30 years, they were for Pam.

She hated the spotlight. One year I asked her to
be the focus of a Veteran's Day column for all
the work she had done. Pam just shook her head
no. "Honor them, not me," she said, pointing to
a group of veterans down the hallway. "They're the ones who deserve it."

The vets disagreed. Mrs. Murphy deserved the
accolades, they said. Incredibly, in 2002, Pam's
job was going to be eliminated in budget cuts.
She was considered "excess staff." "I don't
think helping cut down on veterans' complaints
and showing them the respect they deserve, should
be considered excess staff," she told
me. Neither did the veterans. They went
ballistic, holding a rally for her outside the VA
gates. Pretty soon, word came down from the top
of the VA. Pam Murphy was no longer considered
"excess staff." She remained working full time at
the VA until 2007 when she was 87. "The last
time she was here was a couple of years ago for
the conference we had for homeless veterans,"
said Becky James, coordinator of the VA's Veterans History Project.

Pam wanted to see if there was anything she could
do to help some more of her boys.