Day 41 of the stupid coronavirus shutdown
“Raymond Murphy”
5 Rounds for Time
25 Double-Unders
35 Kettlebell Swings (24/16 kg)
45 Air Squats
This Firefighter Hero WOD is dedicated to Raymond Murphy, FDNY, Ladder 16, who was killed on September 11, 2001.
Ray was the fourth of five sons born to Edward J. and Eileen Murphy. Older Brothers William, Robert and Edward preceded him, and he was an older brother to Kenneth. When he was six, Ray’s family moved from the Yorkville section of Manhattan , to the Castle Hill section of the Bronx . Ray spent the next 13 years growing up in the Castle Hill Housing Projects, a neighborhood comprised of every ethnic and racial background imaginable. By all accounts, Ray had a wonderful childhood. He seemed to have been born with the effervescent personality we would all come to know later in his life. Indeed, friendships made by Ray as a child lasted throughout his lifetime. Dennis, Smitty, Bombo, and the rest of the Castle Hill crew remained close even as they raised their own families. Ray also met his first and only true love, Linda, during the Castle Hill years.
Ray’s parents felt it was important that their boys attend parochial school. They wanted to have the values of family and religion they taught in their home to be reinforced in their children’s education. It was a theme that would remain with Ray as he and Linda raised their own family. Education was so important to Ray’s parents that Ray’s mom would work nights in a bank specifically to pay tuition for her boys. Ask any of Ray’s brothers and they will say the same thing. Ray was special! As a child, Ray never complained, he displayed qualities of compassion, fairness and love towards family and friends that would only strengthen into manhood. Ray would follow his brothers in school at Holy Family Grammar School and St. Raymond’s High School.
In 1973, Ray’s parents, with Ray and Kenny in tow, moved to the Bronx neighborhood known as Throgs Neck. Ray learned to love this area so much he decided to raise and educate his children and build his house right there in that same neighborhood. In 1974, Ray’s dad died and Ray went to work to try and help his mom with the household bills. Ray and Linda had been dating during this time and decided to marry. On November 25, 1978 , a union that was meant to be took place in front of all of Ray and Linda’s many friends and families. With their marriage, Ray and Linda also had a life plan. They both wanted children but realized they needed to plan financially before starting a family. Ray and Linda both worked, slowly saving money to buy a first home in 1981. Ray worked with his hands as a marble setter and then as a route salesmen for Perrier and 7-UP. In 1980, Ray started to study and train for the FDNY, a job that was to become a vocation and the center of his life—after his Faith and Family.
In January, 1982, Ray entered the Fire Academy and soon knew that this was his calling. The challenge offered by his new job piqued Ray’s interest in a way that would stay with him—literally—until the day he died. It is not often that a man or woman can go to work on a daily basis and never lose the love of his job. The hard work of being a firefighter was more than offset by the camaraderie, laughter, and good-natured day-to-day living in a firehouse. Ray never had a bad day in the FDNY.
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