Deer Park Home Link Principal Molly Murphy in front of her office bookshelf.
Photo By: Jennifer Sinclair
Molly Murphy, who has been a part of the Home Link program for 21 years, is retiring as the principal of Home Link. She is sad to go but excited for the adventures ahead.
Molly Murphy has served Deer Park Home Link for 21 years in total and has been the principal for 11 years. She is prepared to retire after this school year ends, and leaves behind a legacy of love and servitude. Murphy started pursuing a career in education because, as she said, “most women went in one of two directions. Either they became a nurse, or they became a teacher”. She eventually chose to become a teacher, following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother, though becoming a pediatric nurse was considered. After graduating from college, she taught college English. Her husband was at the time in the Air Force, meaning they moved around quite a bit. Murphy “usually stayed in the educational field” as the family moved around, but eventually, she took a break from teaching to start a family.
In 2002, she applied to become a teacher at Home Link after seeing a job opening in the newspaper, and she got the job. She started working at Home Link as a consultant and a teacher, and it was her job to “just do whatever needed to be done.” In doing these things, she fell head over heels in love with the entire program. Murphy became the Principal at Home Link in 2012 after ten years of working in the school.
As Murphy leaves this school district, she is looking forward to spending more time with her 19 grandkids, traveling more, and having opportunities to meet new people. She has already planned a trip along the Camino De Santiago Pilgrimage trail this September with her friend Laurie Ottison, which will give her lots of time to think, reflect, and meet new people. As she leaves Home Link, she hopes to leave the message, “The most important person in any given moment is the person sitting across from you.” She emphasizes the importance of the will to serve while serving in the field of education, and she hopes that everyone knows how much she loves them.
One of her favorite things about working at Home Link has been meeting all of the people. Murphy loves stories and finding how everything connects, which she got to see a lot of while working at Home Link. She has learned that parents being so heavily involved in their children’s education requires immense sacrifice, but the outcome is well worth the effort. Murphy said that the character of each of her students reflects the sacrifice and hard work put into them. In the Home Link program, she is delighted that “people bring their stories,” and everyone in the Home Link program is sure to remember her story with joy and thankfulness.
