Elaine (Boudreau) Murphy, beloved friend, sister, aunt, and teacher, began her journey to the spirit world on April 20, 2022.

Elaine, born January 10 ^th , 1938 at her family home in Bradley, Illinois, was the youngest of the three Boudreau girls. From an early age, Elaine was involved in the Catholic community and attended parochial schools.  In August 1956, shortly after graduating from high school, Elaine entered the Congregation of Notre Dame Novitiate in Bourbonnais, IL. After two years, Elaine pronounced her vows as a religious.

Elaine's vocation in life, both as a Nun and Lay person, was one of teaching.

She began her teaching career with a year at the St. Louis Academy in Chicago, followed by seven years at Notre Dame School, and inner-city parish school. It was here that she fell in love with teaching. She cried tears to be called to teach elsewhere. Elaine returned to Bourbonnais to teach for two years before moving to Waterbury Connecticut to teach at Notre Dame Academy, an all-girls private school from 1968 to 1970.

Her life as a nun afforded Elaine the ability to teach and pursue higher education. She graduated DePaul University in Chicago with a bachelor's degree in Social Sciences with emphasis in Geography in 1968. She then earned a Master of Arts in Teaching Mathematics from Webster College, Missouri in 1974.

In 1972 Elaine was called to minister on the Pine Ridge Reservation, a community that earned her heart.  Here Elaine taught grades 5 through 8 at the Red Cloud Indian School. During her time here, she developed an individualized approach to teaching mathematics which included texts, videos, games, and activities.

After 10 years of service in South Dakota, Elaine took a sabbatical to reenergize both mentally and spiritually. This sabbatical proved to be life changing for Elaine. During this year she attended a month-long renewal program in Adrian, Michigan. It was here that she met then Marist Brother David Murphy. They began a deep friendship that continued on as he returned to ministry in Africa and she to Pine Ridge. In 1987, Elaine and David jointly decided to ask Rome for release of their vows which would allow them to join their lives in partnership as husband and wife. After being released from their vows in the spring of 1988, David and Elaine were married on August 13 ^th , 1988. Thus began a new kind of ministry for the pair, one fueled by their mutual love of each other and the Pine Ridge community they served.

In 1984, Elaine founded the O Kola (translated as "a place where friendships are formed and developed) Alternative School. This small school served a maximum of 12 teenagers whose emotional and psychological needs made learning in a "normal" school impossible. The school provided individual and group counseling to the students and also provided space for staff to process their own feelings and roles. Although the O Kola School's main focus was the social and emotional well-being of their students, they also delivered core academic curriculum and Lakota history. In 1996, Elaine handed over administration of the school to her trusted husband, David. She then began as a full-time instructor at Oglala Lakota College teaching a variety of Math course. In 2004, Elaine moved on to the Shannon County School District where she mentored elementary math teachers.

In June 2006, Elaine officially retired from teaching, grateful for her 48 years as an educator. The next day, Elaine and David moved to their land just west of Hot Springs. They named the land "CHIPO", a word from the Shona language and the people David worked with in Zimbabwe, meaning "Gift from God". For the next twelve years, Elaine and David lived, loved, enjoyed, and shared this wonderous spot in the Southern Black Hills with their family, friends, and neighbors. Even after beginning his own journey in the spirit world on April 7, 2014, David's spirit remained, waiting to depart the land he loved with the woman he loved. On April 20, 2022, Elaine passed peacefully from this world to the spirit world, joining once again in the spirit with her husband and other family members she loved.  She was well cared for during her period of declining health by close friends and family, Stillwater Hospice and Rose Haven Senior Living.

Elaine was proceeded in death by her dear husband David Murphy, her parents Harvey and Isabel (Hebert) Boudreau, her sister Phyllis Boudreau, a member of the Congregation of Notre Dame, and her sister and her husband Theresa (Boudreau) and Paul Gund.

Elaine is survived by her nephew and his wife Gerry and Lynne Gund, her niece and her husband Jeanne (Gund) and David Steinbach and their four children, her nephew and his wife David and Joy Gund and his four children, her nephew and his wife Hank (Henry) and Laura Gund and his two children, and her nephew and his wife Bruce and Margene Gund and their three children, and her many friends and neighbors.

Memorials may be sent to Red Cloud Indian School https://www.redcloudschool.org/waystogive