Service for Kimberly Patterson Murphy

at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, Florida

Wednesday, November 29, 2000

by close family friend, Lou Piotrowski

It is hard for me to think about Kim without smiling; her smile was infectious and it was the first thing that I noticed about her. It was Chris Kreb's birthday party and Kim was about seven. You couldn't help but notice the cute little girl with this amazing grin, she seemed to attract kids and spread giggles. She started the next school year at ODA and whether it was the famous Patterson Easter Egg Hunt with eggs and oysters by the dozen, or the infamous Kimberly slumber parties there were always grins and laughter with Kim at the center as she tumbled around with a golden retriever – Thurber or Nugget – frolicking at her side. Nora might look aghast at the number of girls arriving for the night, but Kim thrived on the friends and the fun and the activity, and actually so did her mom and dad.

Kim and my son Kenner were riding at the time. I had the fun and duty of driving out to the stable with the chance to listen to all the tales of the days at school told in her animated version. Even the rainy campout at Citrus Hills with soggy horses and soggier riders didn't dampen that grin. We went up near Winter Haven to a show once. As Kim took one of the jumps the horse stumbled and sent her flying. Kim picked herself up, remounted, flashed that famous Kim grin and rode on. When you think about it, that was the way Kim approached life.

I remember Kim saying how she couldn't wait to finish at ODA and head for Riverview. It wasn't that Kim didn't like ODA; it was just that Riverview seemed big and exciting, and for Kim it was. Suddenly this cute little girl was transformed into this lovely, animated, teenager. She developed a talent for art and honed her ability to make people smile. She had her parents love of boats and the water and I know many of her friends can tell you of fun times on Show Time and the little boat on the Fourth of July, around the bay, and down in the Keys. But Kim also had fun on the beach, at school, and at home. Slumber parties got even larger and occasionally the party had a few extra visitors who came by way of the carport roof and the balcony to join the fun. I think Johnny once chased a couple of those late night male arrivals all the way to the end of Freeling Drive and I've heard tales of what he had in his hand. Of course, Kim and her friends howled and Nora gave an appropriate roll of her eyes while suppressing a laugh.

I couldn't pass on mentioning the pelican – a statue at a condominium that Kim "accidentally jostled" on the way to the beach and it lost its head. At the time it seemed to Kim that a good cleanup strategy would be to put it in the driver's seat of a nearby jeep that happened to belong to Kenn since he was nowhere in sight. When five police cars arrived, having heard that teenagers were decapitating pelicans on the beach, and rounded up the guys, Kim decided that perhaps an anonymous check to cover its repair would be preferable to a confession at that point. She just couldn't keep it secret for long and it became one of those tales of teenage exuberance that turned into an event and made us realize that as adults we occasionally take life a little too seriously.

Kim had an amazing zest for life but it didn't keep her from doing well in school and in art. At the Sarasota portfolio review where local art students show their works to prospective colleges – the Syracuse reviewer asked to see her work. She encouraged Kim and Kenn to apply, so Nora and I took them to see the campus. It was a rainy day when we arrived – something that almost passes for great weather in Syracuse – so we were waiting in the hotel bar for rooms to be ready. The waitress turned out to be an art student and asked the kids if they wanted to see her studio the next day. Her studio mate was a surface designer and you could almost instantly see the connection Kim made with that art form. In her four years at Syracuse she developed her talent and her love for surface design. She also had a blast. She blended new friends with old friends and rarely arrived home without several in tow.

It was at Syracuse that Kim met Brian. He was fun and they had a great time but they would graduate and Kim would head off to Washington and New York before they would realize that together they were better than they were separately. In the meantime Kim was putting her talent in surface design to good use. She was designing for Martha Stewart, Liz Claiborne, and others; moving up the design team ladder, heading around the world to pick up fabrics and ideas to transform into wonderful designs for tabletop lines.

I remember one of her trips home. First she looked smashing – a gorgeous, sophisticated, woman looking every inch New York and yet every inch Kim because she had that same radiant smile. She was bubbling – talking at "Kimspeed" about hauling groceries up five flights to the apartment where she lived with her friends; about the wonderful little shops that turned New York into neighborhoods, not an anonymous city; about doing basic training at the "Y"; and working with the designers that to the rest of us are just famous names. Great tales of trips abroad to find just the right fabric and shopping for items to bring back for inspiration for the next season's line

She also kept mentioning this Brian fellow, or Murph, and how he would come and help them meet deadlines to get displays up for clients. His name was also turning up in stories of parties and friends and pretty soon John and Nora said they thought Kim was getting very serious about a neat young man. And she was.

Brian, your wife was a wonderful woman, your love during the hardest times, helped Kim keep her smile and her spirit. Last week when I saw her in Houston she laughed telling stories about New York, her friends, her job and you. You were not only her love, you were her best friend, and her strength. She talked about your engagement, your wedding, and how your strengths complimented each other. I can't seem to capture her effervescence in words, but it has always been there even in this, the hardest year.

I know I don't know all the stories, or even the best ones – think Kim's friends know those and they include the ones we "grownups" never got to hear. I'm sure you'll be sharing those at the Gator Club later tonight. And Kim would want you to. I do know this – Nora and Johnny you raised an amazing daughter who touched my life in a hundred different ways. Like everyone else gathered here, I will always remember her and when I think of her I'll see a grin, a smile, a look, a twinkle. I'll try to be a little more lighthearted and see the world through Kimberly-eyes, because if I look at the world through Kimberly-eyes it will be a brighter place.