Diana Murphy February 6, 2006; February 28, 2006; March 20, 2006; April 11, 2006; May 25, 2006; August 8, 2006; September 19, 2006; November 1, 2006; December 20, 2006; April 25, 2007; June 26, 2007; July 3, 2007; August 23, 2007; April 25, 2008; June 23, 2008; April 7, 2009; May 21, 2009; June 23, 2009; February 18, 2010 Recommended Transcript of Interview with Diana Murphy (Feb. 6, 2006; Feb. 28, 2006; Citation Mar. 20, 2006; Apr. 11, 2006; May 25, 2006; Aug. 8, 2006; Sept. 19, 2006; Nov. 1, 2006; Dec. 20, 2006; Apr. 25, 2007; June 26, 2007; July 3, 2007; Aug. 23, 2007; Apr. 25, 2008; June 23, 2008; Apr. 7, 2009; May 21, 2009; June 23, 2009; Feb. 18, 2010), https://abawtp.law.stanford.edu/exhibits/show/diana-murphy. Attribution The American Bar Association is the copyright owner or licensee for this collection. Citations, quotations, and use of materials in this collection made under fair use must acknowledge their source as the American Bar Association. Terms of Use This oral history is part of the American Bar Association Women Trailblazers in the Law Project, a project initiated by the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession and sponsored by the ABA Senior Lawyers Division. This is a collaborative research project between the American Bar Association and the American Bar Foundation. Reprinted with permission from the American Bar Association. All rights reserved. Contact Please contact the Robert Crown Law Library at Information [email protected] with questions about the ABA Women Trailblazers Project. Questions regarding copyright use and permissions should be directed to the American Bar Association Office of General Counsel, 321 N Clark St., Chicago, IL 60654-7598; 312-988-5214. ABA Senior Lawyers Division Women Trailblazers in the Law ORAL HISTORY of DIANA MURPHY Interviewer: Lisa Brabbit Dates of Interviews: February 6, 2006 February 28, 2006 March 20, 2006 April 11, 2006 May 25, 2006 August 8, 2006 September 19, 2006 November 1, 2006 December 20, 2006 April 25, 2007 June 26, 2007 July 3, 2007 August 23, 2007 April 25, 2008 June 23, 2008 April 7, 2009 May 21, 2009 June 23, 2009 February 18, 2010 1 r~ I \ 1 ·2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ORAL HISTORY OF 9 10 11 12 THE HONORABLE DIANA MURPHY () 13 \....J 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Transcribed By: Elizabeth J. Gangl, RPR 24 25 www.paradigmreporting.com 0 2 (~) '· ' 1 INDEX OF INTERVIEWS 2 3 February 6, 2006 Pages 3 - 31 4 February 28, 2006 Pages 32 - 65 5 March 2 0, 2006 Pages 66 - 121 6 April 11, 2006 Pages 122 - 164 7 May 2 5, 2006 Pages 165 - 206 8 August 8' 2006 Pages 207 - 260 9 September 19, 2006 Pages 2 61 - 290 10 November 1 ' 2006 Pages 291 - 327 11 December 2 0, 2006 Pages 328 - 358 12 April 2 5, 2007 Pages 359 - 390 13 June 2 6, 2007 Pages 391 - 430 (-,) ._/ 14 July 3' 2007 Pages 431 - 473 15 August 2 3, 2007 Pages 474 - 501 16 April 25, 2008 Pages 502 -- 539 17 June 23, 2008 Pages 540 - 570 18 April 7' 2009 Pages 571 - 607 19 May 21, 2009 Pages 608 - 64 6 20 June 23, 2009 Pages 647 - 685 21 February 18, 2010 Pages 686 - 705 22 23 24 25 (J 3 1 (February 6, 2006.) 2 (MS. BRABBIT: Judge Murphy, as you know, I 3 am Lisa Brabbit, and on behalf of the American Bar 4 Association, the Commission on Women in the Profession, 5 and the Trail Blazers in the Law Project, thank you for 6 agreeing to offer your oral history and for sharing your 7 life story. Your past has influenced and touched so many 8 people, particularly women, and through this project you 9 will continue to influence and shape lives. This project 10 will also help to ensure that your legacy is captured in 11 your own voice. 12 In sum, we are grateful for your lifelong 0 13 dedication to important women's issues, community and the 14 administration of justice, and it is an honor for us to 15 hear your story. And so it seems appropriate then to 16 begin when your family and friends and community 17 celebrated your birth. Please tell us when and where you 18 were born and describe the members of your family at that 19 time. 20 JUDGE MURPHY: I was born on January 4, 21 1934 in Faribault, Minnesota, the first child of my 22 parents. My father, Albert W. [redacted], was a 23 physician, who at that time was working at a state 24 hospital in Faribault. When he graduated from the 25 University of Minnesota Medical School it was in the 4 n~- / 1 height of the Depression at very difficult times, and 2 doctors were being paid with produce grown by farmers. 3 It was very difficult to get started as a doctor, and he 4 therefore went to work for the State of Minnesota at the 5 state hospital that was in Faribault. 6 MS. BRABBIT: Tell us a little bit about 7 Faribault. 8 JUDGE MURPHY: Faribault is a pretty town. 9 It's probably got some 20,000 people at the present time. 10 It's a gently hilly country. My mother was born in 11 Medford, Minnesota. Because her parents were living on a 12 farm that was south of Faribault, she had gone to high 13 school in Faribault, so her father had moved there. So 14 that might have been one reason why they migrated to 15 Faribault when he went to work, because there were state 16 hospitals in some other towns in the state. 17 At that time they had a French Catholic church 18 and a German Catholic church. I'm trying to think if 19 there was another. Just recently I read in the newspaper 20 that the churches have all combined into one now. I mean 21 they were all Roman Catholic churches, but it shows 22 something about those times where the people coming from 23 different parts of the world sort of clustered together. 24 MS. BRABBIT: Did your parents belong to 25 either church? 5 1 JUDGE MURPHY: My mother was raised as a 2 Catholic. Her mother was born in Austria. My father was 3 born in Olivia, Minnesota, which is a much smaller town 4 about a hundred miles west of the Twin Cities, and his 5 family were Methodists. He belonged to a Masonic Lodge. 6 In those days, of course, the Masons and the Catholics 7 were pretty much anathema to each other. Whether my dad 8 went to church at that time, I don't know, but he 9 wouldn't have been going to the Catholic church. 10 MS. BRABBIT: Did your parents come to a 11.decision on how they were going to raise their kids with 12 respect to faith? () 13 JUDGE MURPHY: Well, they didn't have to do 14 anything other than baptize me at the beginning, so I 15 think that all came later, but we'll talk about that when 16 we talk about school. 17 MS. BRABBIT: Tell us about your home. 18 Describe the home where you lived when you were a young 19 child in Faribault. 20 JUDGE MURPHY: We moved when I was still 21 basically a baby, maybe when I was two. I have no memory 22 of Faribault from that time. 23 MS. BRABBIT: Where did you move to? 24 JUDGE MURPHY: To Chillicothe, Ohio. My 25 dad had gotten a job with the Veterans Administration as 6 n 1 a doctor, and we moved to Chillicothe, Ohio where there 2 was a Veterans Hospital. 3 MS. BRABBIT: How long did you live there 4 in Chillicothe, Ohio? 5 JUDGE MURPHY: Not very long, I've got no 6 memory of that really either. Then he joined the Army 7 Medical Corps, that's what it was called in those days, 8 and was sent to Fort Hayes, which was in Columbus, Dhio, 9 and I do have some memories of that. I could work back 10 when some of the years were exactly, but I think probably 11 I was three maybe when we moved from Chillicothe to 12 Columbus. We lived there for a couple of years. Some 13 years ago, when I was in Columbus for a court-related 0 14 event, I went out to that area where Fort Hayes was. I 15 remember we lived in a big house, it was like a double 16 house, a stone house, sort of a gloomy-looking place, and 17 I found the housing. They weren't quite as big as my 18 memory, but they were· substantial houses. We lived there 19 for, I would say, maybe two years, and my dad was 20 transferred to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington. I 21 mean it was actually, I think, possibly located in 22 Bethesda, Maryland. 23 Anyway, we lived in Bethesda. We had a very 24 nice house, free-standing house with a big yard, so many 25 trees. It was a very nice house, I loved it, and my dad u 7 1 built me a playhouse in the backyard and a swing and a 2 slide. I absolutely loved it. And there was a porch. I 3 remember organizing some of the neighbor kids to put on a 4 play and we concocted it on our porch, but we never got 5 it really all put together.