Hometown Rankin - April & May 2016

in the process of adopting their oldest daughter
Andrea, Murphy and Ruth found out they were
pregnant with Ben, their youngest son. Not long
after, Ruth became pregnant with Sally. All of a
sudden, the Adkins were a family of six. Ruth would
say, “Well Murphy, we had two selected and two
expected.”
In Mississippi, Murphy went into practice at
Murphy’s Rexall during the height of integration
in the 1960s. Leaders of the African-American
community picked businesses of each type for
people of color to use. Murphy’s Rexall was not
chosen and lost a lot of business because of that.
Soon after, the physician across from Murphy’s
Rexall closed, and the pharmacy business got even
tougher. Worst of all, working sixty-four hours a
week kept Murphy from his family. Realizing that
pharmacy was not his calling, Murphy returned to
teaching science, this time at Brandon Middle
School practicing pharmacy part time.
Teaching gave Murphy an outlet to fulfill both
his passion for teaching and desire to spend more
time with his wife and kids. He spent 20 years in
the school business working as a teacher, counselor,
and principal. Murphy spent two years working
with Louis Gene Strickland as a counselor at the
Addie McBride Center. Additionally, Murphy
served as Rankin County’s assistant superintendent
to Dr. Vinson. Murphy was elected to Alderman at
Large for Brandon in 1982. He maintained that
position for ten years until he decided to go back
to school at the University of Southern Mississippi
to pursue a doctorate in education administration.
The next few years of Murphy’s life were
extremely pivotal for Murphy and his entire family.
Once again seeking a change of atmosphere, the
newly titled Dr. Adkins ran for chancery clerk, was
elected and started to serve in 1992. Of all the jobs
Murphy had, he said, “Chancery clerk was one of
the best jobs I’ve had in my entire life.” He accredits
10 • April/May 2016