ECW at St. Michael’s Church

ABOVE:  Mrs. B. W. Wing and Mrs. E. W. Johnson are pictured with Father Quigley of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in College Park at the opening of the 1960 Episcopal Church Women’s (ECW) Annual Meeting.  Mrs. E. W. Johnson served as co-chair of arrangements for the event.

Episcopal Church Women, ECW, are an active group with a long history of serving in the church. In this excerpt from an oral history interview Mrs. Robin Murphy recalls, “They used to do hospitality matters, now they have a business responsibility just like anybody else.” She says, “Mrs. Cook is a good example of that,” referring to real estate attorney and mother, Deborah Cook, who is a member of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church and active in ECW.

ABOVE: Leila Hill, center back, plays cards with friends at the Episcopal Church Women’s dessert and card party at Saint Michael’s Episcopal Church in College Park, November 18, 1965.

Mrs. Robin Murphy, who is a mother of five, remembers her early church experience at St. Michael’s working with the “women’s things” back in the day when females cared for the children and served primarily in hospitality ministries. Later she would serve as senior warden in the vestry at St. Michael’s Church and her husband served as junior warden.

Her husband, architect Robert Murphy, also served in other ministries such as supporting the very active Boy Scout Troop at St. Michael’s Church in family oriented College Park.

ABOVE: Nils M. Schweizer, renowned architect, speaks on theology and church architecture at the Episcopal Church Women’s Luncheon at Saint Michael’s Episcopal Church in College Park, February 9, 1960. Schweizer started the Orlando architectural firm Schweizer Associates which became Central Florida’s largest and most influential architectural firm designing such buildings as the Loch Haven Art Center, the Orlando Public Library expansion, Church of the Good Shepherd, Eastminster Presbyterian Church, and St. Richard’s Church. He also served as president of the American Institute of Architects committee on church architecture.

Mrs. Murphy fondly remembers their family’s friendship with architect Nils Schweizer  this excerpt from an oral history interview on September 12, 2012.  Mr. Schweizer gave a presentation on church architecture for an ECW Luncheon at St. Michael’s Church.

LISTEN (3:51)

He and his wife were good friends and we admired his son whose office was over in New Smyrna at the time… Orlando at that time had a busy organization of architects. And as my memory serves it was probably between 25-30 architects. We’ve had many more than that in recent years as our city has grown. The size of many offices and the office that my husband started is very large: Hutton and Brady. It used to be Murphy, Hutton & Brady and he started that office and they’re very kind to give him credit for that when they talk about the history of their office.

The history of Hutton Brady Architects states: The foundation of Hunton Brady Architects was established in 1947 in Orlando, Florida, by the integrity and talent of Robert Murphy, a Harvard graduate from Charleston, South Carolina. Read more.

For more information on the history and contributions of the Episcopal Church Women we invite you to visit the ECW website.

Explore the images below under Attachments. Right click on the first image to begin the slide show.

SEARCH OrlandoMemory.info using the term “St. Michael’s” to find many more memories, mentions and photos of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church!