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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E320-E321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO JOHN D. MURPHY
______
HON. CARRIE P. MEEK
of florida
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Mrs. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a kind
and decent man who lived his life helping others, and lost his life
helping others.
John D. Murphy coached youth basketball and volunteered in his
community. He attended the Million Man March, as well as the protest in
Tallahassee against Gov. Jeb Bush's One Florida Plan to dismantle our
state's affirmative action program. He was always thinking of others.
On the way home from the One Florida march, he came upon a chain-
reaction auto accident that killed two people and injured 24. Despite
the pleadings of his sisters, John Murphy left his van and went to help
the injured. He was kill when a tractor-trailer filled with lumber
overturned and buried him on the highway.
Mr. Speaker, John Murphy's sudden and tragic death is a source of
great grief in his family and throughout our community. I join with his
loved ones and those whose lives he touched in extending my deepest
sympathy for their loss.
I would like to submit an article about John Murphy that appeared in
the Miami Herald:
[From the Miami Herald, Mar. 10, 2000]
Loved Ones Feel Loss of I-10 Pileup Victim
(By Adam Ramirez)
His sisters begged him not to leave the van and venture
into the smoke-filled highway, but John D. Murphy insisted on
trying to help motorists injured in Wednesday's horrific 23-
vehicle crash on Interstate 10 near Wellborn, Fla.
Murphy, 36, who attended the Million Man March and coached
youth sports for 12 years, was coming home from the protest
of Gov. Jeb Bush's One Florida plan in Tallahassee. The
Plantation man was killed when a tractor-trailer filled with
lumber overturned and buried him on the highway.
``That's the kind of guy John was--he was always trying to
help people, no matter who they were,'' longtime friend
Calvin Joy said outside Murphy's Plantation home in Park
Estates. ``He devoted his life to helping people--and that's
how he died.''
Two other people were killed and at least 24 injured in the
chain-reaction accident caused in part by heavy smoke on the
highway about 90 miles east of Tallahassee in northern
Florida, officials said. Also killed were truck driver Ben L.
Helmuth III of Claxton, Ga., and Sheila Lindeck, 43, of
Jacksonville, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
VERY SCARY SCENE
``It was a very scary scene when Mr. Murphy ran in there--
smoke and flames every-where,'' said Scott Pate, Suwannee
County deputy emergency management director who arrived first
on the scene. ``He was a true Good Samaritan.''
Twenty-three cars and trucks slammed into one another about
8 a.m. after some of them slowed and stopped when they
suddenly came upon a cloud of smoke.
Seventeen miles of highway near Wellborn were closed after
the accident but were reopened Thursday morning.
Murphy's sisters, Lydia and Jeryle Murphy, watched
helplessly as he walked into the smoke and flames. A manager
at BellSouth for six years, Murphy was driving a rental van
with his sister and two of their children when they hit a
thick patch of smoke and pulled over.
MISSING HALF HOUR
``John told them he saw people in the fire and smoke, and
he had to go help them,'' Joy said. Murphy had been the best
man in Joy's wedding. ``About 30 minutes later, his sisters
were asking police to find him.'' They didn't realize he was
only a few feet away.
Erik Gebauer, of Melbourne, said he was driving a Mustang
that slid under a tractor-trailer.
``I don't understand how I lived through that,'' Gebauer
said Wednesday, his voice
[[Page E321]]
shaking. ``All I can remember was pushing that freaking door.
I felt death right behind me. I can't believe I made it.''
Murphy drove the family to the state capital Monday night
to participate in Tuesday's march against One Florida and was
driving home Wednesday morning.
A longtime volunteer, Murphy served as a basketball and
football coach for children ages 8 to 12 at nearby YMCA and
Police Athletic League teams. A graduate of Tampa Technical
College, he prided himself on being notoriously frugal, Joy
said.
``He would drive five miles out of his way if he found gas
two pennies cheaper,'' Joy said with a chuckle. ``John was
very active, on the MLK committee and active on city boards
in Plantation. But more than anything, he loved his little
daughter with all his heart--nothing came before her.''
____________________
