Mary Julia Murphy, 76, died Wednesday, February 10, 2021, in Beaufort Memorial Hospital, Beaufort, South Carolina. Funeral services were held on February 19, 2021, at Sea Island Presbyterian Church. A private interment service at the Murphy family plot in the Louisville City Cemetery will be scheduled at a later date when COVID-19 rules have been relaxed. Julie was born on June 29, 1944, in Louisville, Georgia, the daughter of the late Wiley Simeon Murphy and Mary Elizabeth Dickson Murphy. Her older brothers, Wiley S. Murphy, Jr., and Albert Dickson Murphy, predeceased her. Julie attended elementary and high school at Louisville Academy, where she was the valedictorian of the class of 1962. Julie was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority at Mercer University, where she graduated in 1967. She completed her post-graduate work at the University of Georgia, earning her MEd degree in 1971, and her PhD in 1986.

Julie was a retired counselor and teacher at Laurel Bay Elementary School in Beaufort, South Carolina. After retirement, she conducted a private counseling practice until 2016. Among Julie's many interests were her love of traveling, camping, and pampering her dogs. She was a committed Christian, having been a faithful member of First Baptist Church of Louisville in her early years, and later serving as a leader at Sea Island Presbyterian Church. Julie was devoted to her Murphy family, seldom missing an opportunity to celebrate birthdays, weddings, holidays, and vacations with her parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. She is survived by her cousins: John R. Murphy III (Marilyn), and sons Jack Murphy, Hank Murphy, and John David Hadden; Margaret Murphy Hunter (Jim); Patricia Murphy Browne; Lynn Murphy Neville (Sammy) and Kathy Murphy Moore (Dennis). Taylor Funeral Home and Cremation Care of Louisville has been in charge of the Louisville arrangements.