814-LmcMlar Fanning, Saturday, January 24, 1998
Eileen, fifth from left, has lots of help with dairy princess responslbilltes from her
sisters and boyfriends. From left are Teresa, Mitch, Josie (exchange student from the
Phllllpines), Brian, Eileen, Annette, and Matt.
Enthusiasm Spills From
Eileen’s Busy Life
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Fanning Staff
ULSTER (Bradford Co.) —For
those who read the recipe section
of this paper, the name Eileen
Murphy is a familiar one. Eileen is
a regular contributor of wonderful
tasting recipes.
“I love cooking and experiment
ing,” the 19-year-old said.
Wearing the title of both Brad
ford County Dairy Princess and
Pennsylvania Second Alternate,
the high school senior leads a busy
life.
She participates in her high
school cooperative program by
working as a secretary from 7
a.m.-8;15 a.m., takes morning
classes at school, and then returns
to her job as secretary from noon
until 7 p.m. After that, she
squeezes in such activities as
homework, dairy promotion, 4-H
Club, president of student council,
FBLA president, youth group
prayer group, 4-H County Council,
Interact, and IR Cooperative. Stu
dents Against Drunk Driving,
band front, swim team, track team,
morning activities announcer, and
tifne with her boyfriend.
In addition, Emily is a member
of North Rome Wesleyan Church,
where she is assistant nursery
director, Bible School worker, and
a member of youth choir and the
teen youth group.
Because she is so busy, the
whole family pitches in to help.
Family includes parents Malcolm
and Sylvia Murphy, two sisters
Teresa and Annette, and an
exchange student, Josie. The sis
ters’ boyfriends also lend a helping
hand.
“My boyfriend Brian drives me
in all the parades, Mitch slices
cheese, and Matt likes to cook and
tests all the recipes," Eileen said.
Eileen recalls that her first
experiment in cooking macaroni
and cheese for her boyfriend’s
family turned into an embarrass
ment. “The macaroni and cheese
was runny, but they ate it anyway.”
she said.
Not only that, she said that the
family stuck with sampling her
cooking while she perfected her
skills.
On the family’s 435-acre farm,
they raise 124 Holsteins and
Jerseys. The Murphysons Farm
has been in the family for 76 years.
Over the years, the Murphy sis
ters have shown both Jersey and
Holstein cows at local fairs and at
the county 4-H roundup. The
Jerseys are from Sunset Ridge
Farm, owned by Eileen’s Uncle
Brian Harris and grandfather
Eugene Harris, and the Holsteins
are from the family farm. Eileen
now has three Jerseys of her own.
”1 prefer Jerseys because they
are easier to train. At the same
time, Eileen said that she has been
hurt more by her favorite Jersey
cow than any other. “She doesn’t
like men,” Eileen said of the cow’s
excuse in acting up while she’s
Asleep after a long day at the Fair.
showing her.
Her mother recalls that Eileen
could hardly wail until she was old
enough to show her first calf. That
enthusiasm for showing continues.
One of the highlights of her year
was participating in the Troy Fair.
Most of the dairy promotional
events that Eileen participates in
are well planned, but she had an
impromptu promotion while fly
ing to Florida last year. She sat
next to a man, who when he heard
that she was a dairy princess,
spread the news to the other pas
sengers. Soon Eileen was bom
barded by passengers requesting
that she autograph the advertising
(milk moustached) pages that they
ripped from magazines.
Many honors have come
Eileen’s way. But the one that is
most meaningful to her is the Miss
Congeniality title that other county
contestants voted to give to her at
the Pennsylvania State Dairy Prin
cess Pageant
“I was so surprised, because I
was just being myself. I was raised
to care about people and to be nice
to them,’’ Eileen said.
She’s also been raised to eat
properly. "My mom is a home eco
nomics teacher, so nutrition has
always been preached to us,”
Eileen said.
Some people have the false
assumption that people who indul
ge in daily products are over
weight Eileen is walking proof
that one can enjoy indulging in
According to Pennsylvania Alternate Eileen Murphy, one
of the most asked questions by kids attending the Farm
Show: “What kind of cows make strawberry milk?”
nutritious dairy products and stay
slender.
“You need to manage what you
eat to comform to your body’s
metabolism,” she said. Although
she believes she has a high meta
bolism because of her busy lifes
tyle. she also makes a concious
effort to eat healthful foods instead
of junk.
During her involvement in 11
years of4-H, Eileen has completed
44 projects, mostly in dairy, stitch
ing, and cooking clubs. Recently,
Eileen received the Orville Yoder
Memorial Award given to a Brad
ford County 4-H’er who most
demonstrates outstanding leader
ship by helping younger members
with projects. Yoder was a former
county extension agent.
Eileen is often fascinated by sto
ries told by her grandfather Ray
Fenton Murphy, who was on the
National Milk Producers Federa
tion board of directors for 25 yean.
“He recently had a stroke. Now,
he can’t tell you what happened
yesterday, but he remembers
everything else,” she said.
When her schedule allows,
Eileen feeds die calves on the
Murphyson Farm in Bradford County Is home for Pen
nsylvania Alternate Dairy Princess Eileen Murphy, her
parents Malcolm and Sylvia, and sisters, Teresa and
Annette.
Homestead
NOTES
farm, a job that her mother normal
ly does.
Eileen said that she met her boy
friend in 4-H, just like her parents
had met Her parents are married
29 years.
Eileen enjoys school promo
tions and seeing the excited frees
of the students as they hear about
cows. One of the highlights of her
year was promoting the Real Seal
Campaign. First graders collected
more than 27,900 Real seals in the
county. !
Although Eileen thrives on
being busy, it’s been really tough
to promote the dairy industry at
both the county and state levels
while finishing her senior year of
high school. This semester she car
ries a heavier load at school and
will need to cut back on state
promotion. She also has dropped
swim team and track—a hard deci
sion because she had qualified to
go to district competition.
After high school graduation,
Eileen plans on entering a two
year program on early childhood
education at Penn Tech in
Williamsport