The Best of Bibb 'Out of the Box'

As printed originally in the May 20th 2009 edition of The Centreville Press.

Etta Ann Murphy
"Suriving tragedy and teaching through experience."

By Daniel L. Bamberg
Sesame Street character Edith Ann played by actress Lilly Tomlin once said, “I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” 

Recently, several Bibb County High School students contacted us with enthusiasm regarding one of their teachers, Mrs. Etta Ann Murphy. Raving about her fresh approach to education and her passion for science, they enthusiastically agreed her entire life was “Out of the Box”. 

Murphy is the winner of 2 Teacher of the Year awards, loved by nearly every student and faculty member, and one of Bibb County's most shining examples of a survivor. She is not exactly an ordinary teacher and the story of her journey to becoming an educator is quite extraordinary.

She is a graduate of Bibb County High School and the University of Alabama with a bachelor's degree in anthropology and a minor in microbiology. Her intentions were to become a doctor but once she entered Pre-Med she found a bump in the road.
“They told me you’ve got to get tougher,” Murphy explained. “You’ve got to become hard hearted in order to make it through. I realized if I had to change the basic fabric of who I am maybe this wasn’t cut out for me.”

After leaving medical school in 1988 she opted to receive her masters degree in business. Not long after, she began working with Gulf States Paper Inc. in Maplesville.
Murphy would be there for 12 years and see several promotions and career changes. During this time, she began working with another passion, horseback riding, in this she gave lessons, her first steps in her road to becoming a tracher.

Murphy's equestrian passion would be halted upon the unfolding of a personal tragedy. Murphy was be involved in an accident which placed her entire life in perspective.
On a November evening in 1992, just three days before Thanksgiving, Mrs. Murphy was on her way home. A car swerved causing her vehicle to become involved in a minor wreck. She got out of her vehicle and was speaking with the State Troopers and a tow truck driver when the truck being towed was accidentally dropped. A vehicle swerving to avoid the truck struck Murphy in a drainage ditch, pulling her under and dragging her for some ninety-feet.
Her head was under the tire when it finally stopped and everyone thought she was dead. A state trooper approached the scene and surprisingly alert she explained to him “I am hurt really bad. Can you call an ambulance?” During the ambulance ride her heart stopped on multiple occasions. 

At the Emergency Room she went through five surgeries and received three total-body blood transfusions. If that wasn’t enough she had major liver damage, colon damage, a split pelvis, a crushed left arm, and was totally scalped.
When she woke up in the hospital after the surgeries her right wrist was the only thing she could move.  Her doctor explained that 95 out of 100 people with her injuries would have died. She couldn’t feel below her waist. Murphy underwent 7 weeks in the Intensive Care Unit followed by 5 weeks of rehabilitation.
She recalls the first time she stood on her feet since the accident.

“It lasted for only a heartbeat or two,” explained Murphy. “The nurse picked me up and placed me in the bed. I slept for four hours after. It was that draining.”
Murphy celebrated the New Year of 1993 in her bed. She also remembers watching from her bed as Alabama beat Miami in the 1993 Sugar Bowl for the National Championship. One question Mrs. Murphy had for her doctor after the physical therapy and rehabilitation was when she’d be allowed back on her horse. The doctor sarcastically responded expressing that would never happen.
Strange as it may seem Mrs. Murphy was riding horseback before she could walk unaided and naturally. Bill and Lorri Hoos, two trainers helped her “back in the saddle” with what is referred to as “horseback therapy”. It is a concept created to help wheelchair bound children become "strong as a horse."
The idea is if that a horse's movement will strengthen and develop the muscles in the legs of the rider.  It certainly worked for Mrs. Murphy. She walked with a distinctive limp for a long time and still walks with a slight limp today, but walks naturally nonetheless. In December 1993 she was able to return full time at Gulf States, just over 1 year after the accident that nearly killed her.
“Gulf States took great care of me,” said Murphy.
When the Maplesville plant was sold to another company she had an opportunity to leave and work for Gulf States elsewhere, but instead decided to stay. After a while she was able to begin to give riding lessons again. It was at this moment where her fate would come full circle.
A Tuscaloosa Librarian who was being taught to ride by Murphy encouraged her to begin teaching in school. She explained that Murphy was a very good teacher and mentioned that she had a positive way with kids. Murphy explained her passion for science to librarian, who responded; “Schools can’t get enough science teachers.”
She then sent an application to Bibb County Junior High School. The Board of Education recognized her qualifications and she began teaching. She spent 2 years at the Junior High School and when the consolidations began Mrs. Murphy moved up to the High School level. In Fall 2007 she gained her certification as a teacher from Judson College.
Murphy believes she has found her place as a teacher. In 2007, she won the regional Wal-Mart “Teacher of the Year” Award. She also won the Bibb County High School “Teacher of the Year,” an award selected from the Board of Education.
“That one meant so much to me because it came from my peers,” Murphy expressed. “I am still very new at this. The kids, believe it or not are teaching me how to teach them.”
So what is it that makes Mrs. Murphy such a powerful teacher?

In her own words, she takes hands on approach to education. She doesn’t just rely on the texts but allows and encourages students to experience what it is they are learning.  Her current and former students say she relates to them because she teaches enthusiastically and never allows a dull moment in the classroom.
“I go through those days when I don’t feel very well,” Murphy stated. “You know, I am kind of sluggish. The moment the students enter the room I perk up and the moment I begin teaching I am energized.”
Mrs. Murphy has brought animals into the classroom in order for the students to see biology in action. It began with a little green snake a student caught when she was teaching in Junior High. Before this moment she disliked snakes but after allowing one to become part of her classroom she was fascinated. Since then, she’s had 27 snakes in her home and in the classroom.
She’s also raised horses, dogs, chickens, quail, a deer, a raccoon, a possum, a beaver, chinchillas, goats, and a horse, which is expecting. 

Most of these animals have made appearances in the classroom and the students are well acquainted with them. She raises these animals at home in her personal certified, Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, something that can only be obtained through a permit.
This teacher’s natural approach does not stop there. She and fellow teacher Mrs. Mitchell started a Science Club for the students who are passionate about the subject. She is currently helping to establish what will be an outdoor classroom. Here she plans on showing students the biodiversity of the Cahaba River.
“If this outdoor classroom gets certified it will put Bibb County High School on the map,” Murphy suggests. “There is so much outside that window which can open up imagination and history. Knowledge is a hobby of mine. History is not just a placement but also a useful tool to understand relationships. There is such history out there,” said Mrs. Murphy.
Etta Ann Murphy lives with her husband William Murphy and says, “Marriage is the greatest life one will ever have.” She has three stepchildren.
“I am very privileged to know them,” she stated. “They are wonderful, quality people and have made my life complete in many ways.”
Murphy refers to students as her “little varmints,” all in good fun and believes in a philosophy that many of today’s educators may have forgotten.
“Some of these kids are going to fall,” Murphy explained. “They are going to land in a ditch, but I am going to be in the ditch with them. I teach on my feet so no matter where the students land, they land there standing on their feet as well.  I know what it is like to be in the ditch and know what it is like to not be able to stand.  I want to teach those (in that situation) to get out of the ditch and learn to stand again.”
Bibb County High School Principal Lee Van Fleet talks very highly of Mrs. Murphy and considers her one of the best.
“She relates to the students, but most importantly the students relate to her,” said Van Fleet.”
Vice Principal Wes Lawley explains, “She has a strong desire to see her students become involved with science and the local ecology.”
Of all the students and faculty who spoke so fondly of Mrs. Murphy perhaps the most definitive statement pertaining to her abilities came from one of her students Brandon Farley who expressed, “She’s taught me to think differently. She’s taught me to look at things differently. She’s taught me differently and because of that I am a better and different person.”
There is more to our community than meets the eye. These are the stories one discovers when looking beyond the surface. There one will find unique citizens living and working in Bibb, out of the box.