After the photos were taken, Kathleen and other family members visited the graves of their ancestors in the tranquil cemetery overlooking the field and forests behind St. Malachy’s Church. The warm sunshine of that July afternoon both masked and mirrored the tragedies and triumphs of the family during their first 175 years of life in Prince Edward Island.

Close—knit and clannish, the Murphys were heirs of the generous and

indominatable spirit of their mother and their late father, William A. “Bill” Murphy

Reverend Gerard Chaisson, who conducted the reunion mass, described it as a “celebration of faith and family.” For Kathleen Murphy, the values of faith and family — along with community — were the touchstones of her life, values which she would come to instill in her own family.