Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Kathy L. Murphy of Hawkins has been promoting book reading for a quarter of a century. She started a book club called “The Official International Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Club” that became one of the largest in the world. She says the main focus is promoting authors, books, literacy, the arts, and reading. Members get together every New Years Day and visit with authors. They try to meet in person, but the last couple of years they met on Zoom.
“You know I started this crazy little book club in my hair salon bookstore back in Jefferson, Texas called “Beauty and the Book in 2000.”
She is a wild child and got plenty of attention.
“Back in the day, when I first got started, we did everything from Good Morning America, Oprah Winfrey, and the Wall Street Journal, which, by the way, still contacts me every once in a while. I think that’s just absolutely amazing.”
She has written a few books and is working on two children’s books. Kathy has a full-time job with a non-profit, is attending UT Tyler, working on a master’s degree in Art History. Yep, she paints too.
“I felt like to be a better artist, a better American, I needed to know more history. The funny thing about art history is you can learn more of the untold story through paintings and art and architecture than any other study in the world.”
Kathy is 68. Most of her friends are retiring.
“I wake up every morning, raring to go. Working hard is the best therapy in the world. I can’t retire. I’ve done this my whole life, because it was my passion. I can’t say that I’ve grown rich, but I’ve grown rich in friendships.”
She is curious. While she was vacationing in Florida, she ran into a bunch of Vietnam Veterans and interviewed them for her podcast and video channel.
“They couldn’t figure out who I was. I think my hair was purple at the time. They were all former helicopter pilots and high-ranking veterans who were sitting around telling stories. They were from all over the country, and I just had to interview them.
“The military have a base there in Pensacola, and it’s where the Blue Angels practice flying. The craziest thing I did while there was parasailing. My cousin Cindy talked me into it. I was scared to death. We went up in the air behind the boat, and there was a Blue Angel coming right at us. I realized we were in their air space. It actually flew below us. We got a picture of it going underneath us. That’s how high we were. That was a lifetime experience I’ll never forget, to be flying in the sky with a Blue Angel.”
