Mrs. Murphy

Whenever I am frustrated having to wait for someone I always reflect about my wonderful memory of growing up and having Mrs. Murphy in my life. Mrs. Murphy worked for the Burnaps. In Ashby there were very few stores of any kind and Burnaps was a general store with groceries and a penny candy counter. In the other section of the building there was a soda fountain with stools, tables and benches. On Sunday my mother would bring my sister, brother and myself to the Unitarian Church for Sunday School. There was another church (Congregational) next to our church. I would end up being a member of both churches. Miss Wilder was the teacher of my class downstairs in the church. Quite often I was the only child to show up for the Sunday School lessons. I believe there were 18 kids signed up. Well, I often would balk when my mother said we were going to church. To convince me to go to church my mother would tell me that we could go to Burnaps after church and I could spend 10 cents at the penny candy counter. The candy counter was about six feet long with a glass plate front and it had several tiers with a variety of penny candies. Mrs. Murphy was in charge of the penny candy counter. Each Sunday I (0ther kids too) would spend ten minutes or more trying to pick out the candy that I wanted that day. I would pick something (squirrel nuts??) and then two minutes later tell Mrs. Murphy I had changed my mind. She would calmly take the Squirrel Nuts out of the bag and return them to their original location behind the glass that separated the kids from the candy. Mrs. Murphy was always kind with a smile and a willingness to wait for each child to make their selections. So today when I am waiting for a child to pick a book or a pencil in school and they seem to take forever, I always smile and say THANK YOU Mrs. Murphy.