Rochelle "Shelly" Murphy

Rochelle “Shelly” Murphy, 88—community activist, educator, and anchoring presence to her family and friends—died in the first hour of July 25 at Samaritan Evergreen Hospice House in Albany, Oregon. A resident of Corvallis for 47 years, Shelly was a well-known contributor to the city and its surroundings, serving as a volunteer and leader in numerous organizations including The League of Women Voters, Corvallis-OSU Piano International, Crossroads International Film Festival, and Mid-Valley Health Care Advocates. In her final years, she mentored younger activists in leadership roles, and her circle of friends remember her as a practical organizer of gatherings of all kinds. A long-time member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Shelly was dedicated to Corvallis remaining a politically-engaged, culturally-rich, and convivial place to live. Shelly was born December 21, 1937, in East Hartford, CT, to Fred Mokriski, the son of Polish immigrants, and Lillian Miller, a Mainer raised in New Brunswick, Canada. She and her younger brothers, Chuck and Jim, grew up in public housing. Her father worked nights as ‘lead man’ in the plating department at Pratt & Whitney, and her mother ran punch cards during the day for an insurance firm. In high school, Shelly pitched in with a part-time job as a waitress. She attended the University of Connecticut and graduated in 1959 with a BA in Education, specializing in Zoology. That fall she was hired to teach junior high science in Ellington, CT. In the summer following her graduation, while chaperoning her brother to a summer academy, Shelly met Allan Murphy, a young science instructor and MIT grad who owned a smart, baby blue Ford convertible. They married the following year. She would support Allan’s further education and career in atmospheric science, a field to which he made lasting contributions. She gave birth to four children between 1961 and 1967—Kenneth, Christopher, Peter, and Andrea—as the family moved west, first to Ann Arbor, MI, then to Boulder, CO, and finally to Corvallis, where Allan accepted a faculty appointment at OSU in 1979. Shelly had a keen interest in the peoples and places of the world, stimulated in part by Allan's international research. The family spent a year in Austria in 1974-75, and she joined Allan on extended stays in Europe and Asia. She worked as a student advisor at the university and took special pleasure in supporting international students and their families. In 1990, Shelly earned an MA in Education at OSU and taught English as a Second Language at Linn-Benton Community College through 2005. After losing Allan to cancer in 1997, she traveled the world focusing on human and natural history, completing over 30 educational trips with Road Scholar and other organizations. She also enjoyed annual trips to Ashland for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, to Yachats on the Oregon Coast with family, and she birded often with her son, Peter. Surviving Shelly are her brother James Mokriski of Madison, CT; son Ken Murphy and his partner Kreithchele Barnard of Irvine, CA; son Chris Murphy and his spouse Linda Murphy of Boise, ID; son Peter Murphy of Reno, NV; daughter Andrea Chaney and son-in-law Bart Chaney of Dallas, TX; and grandchildren Sara Murphy, Cleo Chaney, and Cole Chaney. Also surviving her are many close and devoted friends, who, along with her family, will remember her with love and enormous gratitude. On Friday August 7, a funeral mass will be held at 11 am at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Corvallis. A Celebration of Life follows from 1-3 pm at the Corvallis Community Center (3C, Chandler Ballroom). In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes memorial donations to Greenbelt Land Trust or Mid-Valley Health Care Advocates.

Rochelle "Shelly" Murphy

December 21, 1937 - July 25, 2026