Embarking Upon a New Road
Retirement Leads to Other Diverse Paths

Seventy-seven year old Mary Beth Murphy had a sign hanging on her office wall that read, "Murphy's First Law - If Anything Can Go Wrong, It Will." She finds that for more than a half century, this rule has been steadfast.

Murphy, who retired Aug. 30 from Houston Community College System's Southeast campus, practiced medical technology and taught the subject to future medical technologists for a combined period of 57 years - 29 of them spent at HCC.

She recalled a story from her days of employment at Texas Children's Hospital, where she was employed for 11 years prior to her start at HCC as the hospital's laboratory manager. A Texas Children's physician had a child born with a genetic problem, so Murphy packed up and headed to Dayton, Ohio to collect transfusable blood from 48 young children. Upon arrival at the Dayton airport for her return to Houston, a woman approached the tired-out Murphy and asked her to watch a baby while she took an older child to the restroom. Murphy agreed. After some time had passed, she recognized a St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital physician strolling through the airport who had just walked off of an inbound Houston airplane. After greeting each other, Murphy asked the gentleman to watch the baby so she could catch her flight home. He agreed, and when Murphy arrived back at Texas Children's at 2 a.m., she was greeted with the message that she was a wanted woman. The Dayton police were looking for her, because the woman who asked her to watch the infant had abandoned it in Murphy's care.

Medical technologists are employed by health care facilities ranging from hospitals, nursing homes and clinics, to for profit laboratories, doctor's offices and businesses or industries. Students work in clinical or medical laboratory settings under the direct supervision of a certified medical technologist, and search for clues to the absence, presence, cause or extent to diseases, by performing general lab tests.

A medical technology graduate earns an Associate of Applied Science degree and is eligible for certification by either the American Society of Clinical Pathologists or the National Certification Agency for Medical Laboratory Personnel. Only those who pass the examinations become professionally recognized as medical technologist.

For part of her 29 years at HCC, Murphy said she used to head a combined medical technology program, where all Texas Medical Center hospitals sent their students to her for theory-based, or didactic, lectures. They then would return to the hospital laboratories for practical training.

Eventually under Murphy's leadership, the HCC lab became a working, clinical laboratory, that employs work-study students who perform routine hematology, blood banking, microbiology, urinalysis and chemistry procedures.

"It has been interesting, and I've done a lot," Murphy said. "With the combined total from the medical technology and two-year, associate-degree programs, I've trained nearly every medical technologist in Houston."

Murphy said she feels positive about initiating the firm foundation on which her students started, allowing them to build first-class careers.

"I have had the pleasure of having many of my students go way beyond me, education wise. It has been very satisfactory to see quite a few of them go on to get Ph.D.s."

Medical technologist programs evolved in 1932, and the never-married Murphy, who instead chose a career path, made great strides as there were few women in the field at the time of her graduation. She earned her bachelor's degree in biology in 1945 from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. In 1996, they honored her with a school of allied health distinguished alumnae award.

"My registry number is 12398, so there were only 12,387 before me. Today, the registry numbers are way up there."

Murphy is also a breast cancer survivor and has had two open-heart surgeries.

In 1971, the Reach to Recovery group, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, began in Houston, with Murphy as one of its charter members. This support group was started to aid breast cancer patients, both female and male, cope with their diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.

Reach to Recovery volunteers are trained to provide support and up-to-date information, including literature for spouses, children, friends, and other loved ones. Volunteers can also, when appropriate, provide breast cancer patients with a temporary breast form and information on types of permanent prostheses as well as lists of where those items are available within a patient's community.

"When I was a patient, they assisted with things like exercises, because it is hard to move your arms after a mastectomy. There were 10 original group members, five of whom are still alive, but only four of us remain active."

The remaining active charter members get together with current members, about 100 people total, on the first Monday of each month.

"I plan to do more Reach to Recovery volunteer work in my retirement," Murphy said.

She also plans to volunteer time in the sewing club at Holy Ghost Catholic Church, where she is a parishioner.

"And I will spend time volunteering at St. Luke's, because I've had all of my surgeries there."

Both Murphy's mastectomy and heart surgeries, including a triple-bypass, were performed at St. Luke's. Her cardiologist was David Ott, M.D., a protégé of Denton A. Cooley, M.D. In November 1997, Ott performed a bovine valve transplant on Murphy. She now carries a card on her at all times, in lieu of an ID bracelet, to alert emergency personnel to her barnyard body part, should they detect an irregular rhythm or other abnormalities in her chest.

Although Murphy's schedule, as she's know it for nearly 30 years, will be changing, she won't really be "retiring" - just moving her talents, time and energy to other groups. This new phase in her life is not an ending, it's a new beginning.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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