Lois Murphy

Lois Faye Murphy, 80, of Custer, S.D., passed away Aug. 12, 2026. 
Lois was born June 26, 1946, in Sayre, Pa., to Andy and Vivian (Cowell) Bidlack joining her brother, Wayne.  
Then, several years later, her younger brother Warren came along and she helped raise him, becoming like a second mother to him. With no sisters, she spent her childhood roller-skating and making tracks around the neighborhood with her friend, Gloria, and cousin, Shirley. She didn’t need a car; her horse, Brownie, was her mode of transportation.
Lois’s love for animals began when she was a child, where she raised rabbits and showed them for 4-H. She carried this love through her entire life, especially the horses she broke, raised and made into trail horses, all while teaching others to love riding as much as she did. As her kids grew up and started their own lives, Lois filled some of her time riding and teaching a new generation of horse enthusiasts, as well as going back to school to get a degree in animal husbandry. When kids came home, a ride with mom was always the best catch-up. Her signature line when training others was to always “keep your heels down!”
Lois became a jack-of-all trades by being dad’s helper. She spent many hours learning everything he knew about handy work and enjoyed watching him tinker with whatever project he was working on from upholstery to masonry.  She used those skills later in life making every home she lived in her own and took pride in being able to make the changes she desired.  She could fix anything around the house and yard. Painting, plumbing, redecorating, building retaining walls. You name it—Lois could do it. She could visualize any project and make it come to life, including the blueprint for their retirement home.
As a young woman, Lois worked two summers at a children’s dude ranch in Upstate New York. She loved any job where she could work or be around horses. During the last summer, she met several cowboy friends who promised adventure and education in Aberdeen, S.D. She left Pennsylvania with little more than a suitcase and eager anticipation of leaving a home she had never been more than 200 miles from and traveling 1,500 miles by bus to a new life.  
Upon arriving in Aberdeen, she learned that the college she thought she would go to was no longer accepting out-of-state applicants. But, true to her grit and determination, Lois took the situation by the reigns found another school and took a job as a nanny to five children to support herself.
Lois loved photography and was rarely seen without a camera. During the homecoming parade in Aberdeen, she took a photograph of a beautiful team of horses pulling a wagon.  Little did she know that the handsome cowboy driving that team would become her husband in the not-too-distant future. She was invited to a party by a friend of the cowboys who encouraged her to move to South Dakota, and that was the beginning of a relationship with the love of her life and partner to every future adventure, Owen Murphy. They married Aug. 26, 1967.
Together, Lois and Owen raised seven children across a map that stretched from California to South Dakota, Texas, Maine and Minnesota, before finally returning to South Dakota to stay. At every new house, Owen and Lois set down roots and made a home for their family to flourish. They raised Shawn, Patrick, Kevin, Kimberlyn, Catherine, Ryan and Michael to adulthood, meeting the demands of a growing family with the same grace and grit that carried her west as a young woman.
Her family was her first love, to which she poured her heart and talent. Raising seven kids could be challenging at times, but Lois met the challenge head-on by making toys and games out of whatever was around providing hours of entertainment for all the kids in the area.
There wasn’t anything Lois couldn’t make on her sewing machine. Some favorites were beautifully made baby quilts, Halloween costumes, Christmas advent calendars, doll clothes and cowboy/girl clothes. Her children’s clothes were made with love and to their chagrin, they often had matching outfits.  
Along with her sewing, she enjoyed gardening, taking pride in the beautiful landscape she created around every home. She shared gardening tips and plants with her sister-in-law, Gay, friends, neighbors, and her children. She spread her grandma’s Pennsylvania rhubarb to every state she lived in and to anyone who wanted part of it. Lois grew potatoes, strawberries, and rhubarb outdoors, and shamrocks, Christmas cactus and others indoors. She experimented with growing plants less suited for the South Dakota climate and soil like avocados with mild success just for the fun of it.
In her later years, Owen and Lois opened a campground offering guided trail riding in the Black Hills National Forest. It was a fitting turn for a woman whose love of horses and the outdoors started with nurturing and shared experiences with her dad, and an adult life had set in motion by a chance meeting with some cowboys decades earlier. It was a return, in many ways, to where her story began.
Although Lois was not a teacher or nurse by trade, she taught, guided and cared for every person that entered her life. Whether you needed help fixing or cleaning a house, help with a school project, or nursed back to health from sickness or broken bones, Lois was the first to volunteer her skills and time.
Throughout Lois’ life her friendship and daily conversations with Jesus were the bedrock of her strength and resilience. Her faith began in childhood, attending church with her grandmothers, where she learned that prayer was just talking to a good friend. She carried this lifelong devotion into adulthood when she converted to Catholicism. She faithfully prayed for each person in her life.
Lois met every chapter of her life, the uncertain ones and the joyful ones alike, with love, grace and bravery. She inspired multiple generations of family, friends, and students as a woman who never let fear decide her path. She lived a life defined by courage, adaptability, and an unwavering commitment to family and community.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Vivian; father, Andy; her brothers, Warren and Wayne; granddaughter, Christine; and great-grandson, Hamada. 
She is survived by her husband of 59 years, Owen her seven children, Shawn (Pat), Patrick (Robyn), Kevin (Tara), Kimberlyn (Peter), Catherine, Ryan (Nicole) and Michael (Julie); her cousin, Shirley; childhood friend, Gloria; and 33 grandchildren (including their spouses), and nine great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers please make donations to Alzheimer’s research. 
Rosary will be at 5 p.m., Friday, Aug. 28 at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Custer followed by Christian Funeral Vigil at 6 p.m.
Christian Funeral Mass will be held 10 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 29 at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.
Christian Funeral Committal will be held 3 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 1 at Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis, S.D.
Arrangements have been placed in the care of Chamberlain McColley’s Funeral Home in Custer.