Jean (Force) Murphy & Ken

Ken moved to the Point in 1932 at the age of 3 weeks. Attended both NY Avenue and Dawes Avenue schools. Moved to Philadelphia and for 7th and 8th grades then moved back to the Point. Attended OCHS and graduated in 1950. Worked in NJ and South Florida during the next few years.

Jean was born in 1935 in what was then the Point Tavern, her parents were year around caretakers there. So we relate to the Pointers home page. Jean moved to Manahawkin in 1940 and returned to the Point in 1946.

Ken returned to the Point in 1952 and joined the Navy. Dividing the next four years between NAS Pensacola, Fl. and the USS Conecuh (AOR-110) out of Norfolk, Va.

In 1957 I took advantage of the GI Bill by attending Capitol Radio Engineering Institute, in Washington, DC. Graduated in 1959 with an Associate in Applied Science degree with a major in computer engineering. Hired by RCA as a computer service technician on the countries first all transistorized computer,. My first assignment was at RCA Astro in Highstown, NJ where I was privileged to witness the development of our countries first satellite, the TIROS Satellite.

Of course I spent my weekends in the Point. Jean Force and I began dating, we were married by mayor Chapman in 1960 and moved to Willingboro, NJ (then Levittown). Jean had two children from a prior marriage, Jeanann and Deborahlee. While in Willingboro we added two more children, Terrylynn and Robert. Over the years we had two more children and moved around the country because my assignment changed about every five years.

1963 we relocated to Tallahassee, Florida taking four children and both our mothers with us. While there we added Lynnann, we were trying to have a brother for Robert but the lord had a different plan. In 1965 I moved into management and covered the territory west of Tallahassee including Pensacola, Fl; Mobile, Al; New Orleans, La; to Shreveport, La; and north to Jackson, Miss. Jackson was an interesting city for a yankee in those days but New Orleans was a great city for recovery. These were long weeks, Jean would take me to the airport at 6am Monday and pick me up Friday midnight. My son thought daddy was the telephone.

We relocated to Miami in 1966 where we lived until 1972. My territory included Florida, Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and Puerto Rico. Miami was a great city in the late sixties. Jean and I enjoyed Puerto Rico too. In 1972 Jenniferlee was born, she was our delightful surprise child. While in Miami I attended Miami-Dade JC and graduated with an AA in Management.

Also in 1972 Sperry-Univac took over RCA’s computer business and we got the chance to move to Omaha, Nebraska. Miami to Omaha was a change in every sense of the word. Covering SAC Headquarters was most interesting. While in Nebraska I returned to college and in 1975 earned a BSBA degree. Jeanann our eldest daughter was married and moved away with her navy husband. Also Deborahlee was married and remains in Omaha.

The rest of the family moved to Chicago in 1978 and lived there until 1983. I was assigned to Sperry’s Worldwide Parts Distribution Center as Director of Customer Services. This was a 60 hour a week kind of job but I learned how to work with people around the world and got to travel to several countries. Terrylynn married that year and moved to West Virginia. Robert married and lives in Rockford, Il. Lynnann married and lives in Carpentersville, IL.

In 1983 we moved to Blue Bell, Pa. Sperry’s home office. My assignment was Worldwide Director of New System Implementation. We spent many hours fixing up our home thinking we would finish out my working career there. In 1987 we were surprised when Burroughs Computer Corp, acquired Sperry in a hostile takeover. This resulted in another opportunity to move.

We moved to Clinton in northern NJ. I covered Northern NJ, NY City and Long Island. Talk about traffic hassles. Over the next few years this ill conceived Burroughs takeover resulted in continual workforce reengineering (layoffs). Continual reorganizations resulted in another relocation in 1991.This time to Harrisburg, Pa. I covered Pennsylvania from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh and all of West Virginia.

About this time Jean and I decided we had enough of this fun, and in 1993 we retired and moved to Pace, Florida. Three of our daughters now live in this area. We have 19 grandchildren and 2+ great grandchildren. Jean and I travel as much as we can while we can. No one knows what tomorrow brings and we don’t want to look back and say we should have.