12 years and we still miss you, Fran

Frances B. Murphey, legendary Beacon Journal reporter in the bib overalls, died 12 years ago today -- Nov. 9, 1998 -- at the age of 75. But her memory will never fade among those who knew her, in person or by reading her Good Afternoon and Good Morning columns.

The highest compliment in my life was when Fran said to me: "Go to Hell!" I was on hallowed ground. We retired from the BJ on the same day. Fran insisted that I be included in the Blue Room sendoff for her. The Hudson High and Kent State graduate had a fabled collection of 200,000 postcards, including one that arrived 47 years after she mailed it. Fran's niece, Marie Dachtler Fogle of Hartville, said her aunt's postcard collection was sold after she died.

Fran wrote more than 30 million words and took more than 40,000 photos for the BJ. When the BJ switched to computers for its reporters, Fran would add words to the final line of each paragraph to squeeze in more information.

While in junior high, Fran would accompany her mother, Marie L. (Thompson) Murphey, a correspondent with the Akron Times Press, on election nights to tally the results by flashlight.

Outhouses were another Fran trademark. My daughter, LaQuita, who worked with leaded glass, made a glass outhouse for Fran. Harry Liggett would show up as assistant State Desk editor at 4:30 a.m. to find a note on his desk telling him where to find Fran, and what time to awaken her.

Former BJ staffer Thrity Umrigar, author of novels about her native India ("Bombay Time," "The Space Between Us," "If Today Be Sweet"), wrote a superb tribute after Fran's death. Click on the headline to read it.