Vilma Louise (Munk) Murphy, also known as Willie, was born on May 18,1939 in Chicago Illinois to Holger and Theodora (Nielsen) Munk. She died peacefully on Saturday May 25, 2024 at the age of 85 in Maitland, Florida where she lived.
Willie is survived by her four children, Mark Szymanski (Colleen) of Minneapolis, MN, Lynn Cook (Eric) of Laguna Niguel, CA, Janice Hanrahan (John) of Twinsburg, OH and Lora Szymanski-Moncrief (Michael) of Maitland, FL and step children, Lynn Murphy, of Portland, OR and Tom Murphy of Mesa, AZ, grandchildren Craig and Maureen Szymanski, Thomas and Katie Hanrahan, and step grandchildren Joseph and Amy Murphy, Peter and Aidan Murphy, Ryan, Baily and Aileen Murphy.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Michael Murphy and stepsons Patrick Murphy and Peter Murphy. Born, raised and married in the Chicagoland area, Willie spent the first portion of her life in Mt. Prospect, Illinois raising her four children. When she remarried in 1983, four additional children were added to the family and over time Willie’s family expanded to include 11 grandchildren.
In 1987 she became a business owner of “Avenue Floral & Gift” in Northlake, IL where she enjoyed running the business and providing customers with beautiful floral arrangements.
In 1989 Willie moved to Venice, Florida to be near her parents and entered her new career as a sales consultant at Mill Pond Press. It was one of Willie’s favorite jobs as she fell in love with the art work and the wonderful connections she had with co-workers. After leaving Mill Pond Press, Willie took a job at Venice Hospital in the Volunteer department. She loved her job! In her free-time she enjoyed traveling, entertaining, golf and sunset walks at the beach.
After retiring in 2004 she moved to Aiken, South Carolina where she enjoyed a southern hospitality lifestyle for 14 years. Retirement was spent golfing, volunteering, and being the Treasurer of her Home Owners Association. She loved staying busy, traveling, entertaining and visiting Jekyll Island. In 2019 she relocated to the Orlando area to be near family.
Her warmth and sensitivity, her kindness and compassion, her bright blue eyes that twinkled as she smiled, her laughter and joyful spirit where shinning bright up till the last days of her life. In her heart was honesty, love and simplicity. As a devoted Christian she knew the best way to live her faith was to love others. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandma, friend and will be missed tremendously.