sometimes days. Everyone kept busy, probably to the relief of Kathleen and Bill following the hectic activities of the Christmas season.

The number of gifts exchanged was reduced in later years as the family began to draw names for one another. By the 1970s, even that practice was being further diminished. Through the guidance councillor at St. Jeans School in Charlottetown, a family in need was identified, and appropriate gifts were selected and forwarded to each family member. However, Kathleen and her sons and daughter continue to exchange gifts with one another, and as fiancées came along, they were welcomed as part of the festivities as well. Kathleen arranges for gifts for each of her grandchildren. They all exchange gifts with their godchildren. (One further measure of the closeness of the Murphy family is that they are godparents to one another’s children.)

Although family members had gone their separate ways, those that can come back for the holidays do so; during the time that Michael lived in the Cayman Islands, he only missed one Christmas on Prince Edward Island. The year at Christmas following Bill’s death they all came home to be together once more. In November of 2002, when the student centre at the University of Prince Edward Island was named in honour of Bill, the whole family was there and, while on the Island, came to Riverview Drive to celebrate Christmas early. The house was decorated, the tree was trimmed, the turkey was cooked and the spirit of the season was celebrated.. The dinner table stretched from one end of the kitchen through to the other end of the family room. It was one of the most memorable of Christmases ever for the close—knit Murphy family.

152 KATHLEEN MURPHY, MAITRIARC