Shelba "Shelly" June Hargis Murphy, 71, of Carrollton, GA, died Saturday, September 5, 2015. She was born May 18, 1944 in Grand Prairie, TX, to the late Elmer Porter Hargis and Loretta Miller Hargis. She grew up in Carlsbad, NM, and attended Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX, where she met and married Edward G. Murphy of Syracuse, New York. She later graduated from Livingston University (now UWA) where she received the Owen Love Business Award for Excellence in Accounting. Due to frequent moves in connection with her husband's college basketball coaching career during the first 25 years of marriage, she worked as a substitute teacher, legal secretary, bookkeeper; church organist; administrative assistant to a university business manager; executive secretary to a university president; and auditor for the Mississippi Department of Corrections. After the family moved to Oxford, MS, in 1986, she opted to be a stay-at-home mom to her youngest son to allow more time for creative pursuits such as gardening and writing. She will best be remembered for her sense of humor, and her humorous how-not-to-garden book, Compost Happens: Confessions of a Plantaholic. As a member of the Carroll County Master Gardeners, she wrote articles for nearly a decade for the Times-Georgian and more recently, West Georgia Living Magazine. Other memberships include Little Tallapoosa Botanical Society, Anne Hill Book Club, West Georgia Writers' Guild, Carrollton Creative Writers' Club, Carrollton Civic Woman's Club and Carrollton Presbyterian Church. She was also a volunteer for Open Hands Christian Ministries. In addition to her husband of 51 years, she is survived by her children and their spouses, Laurie C. Murphy (Dr. Matthew C. Kadlec) of Olympia, WA; Dr. Sean M. Murphy (Kristen Mangum Murphy) of Winston-Salem, NC; and Bryan E. Murphy of Carrollton, GA; siblings and spouses, Dr. Bill and Glenda Williams of Pittsburgh, PA, Kevin and Shirley Hargis of Abilene, TX; and Kenneth and Barbara Hargis of Santa Fe, NM; grandchildren: Connor Kadlec, Grant Kadlec and Claire Kadlec of Olympia, WA, and Eamon Murphy and Brendan Murphy of Winston-Salem, NC; and several nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held Saturday, September 12, 2015 at the Carrollton Presbyterian Church at 2 p.m. with Rev. Jan Tolbert officiating. The family will receive friends from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in Westminster Hall. Inurnment will be in the OLPH Catholic Church Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Carrollton Presbyterian Church Building Fund, 14 Maple St, Carrollton, GA 30117 the Neva Lomason Memorial Library, 710 Rome St. Carrollton, GA 30117 or Open Hands Christian Ministries, P.O. Box 1818, Carrollton, GA 30112. Messages of condolences may be expressed to the family online at www.almonfuneralhome.com Almon Funeral Home of Carrollton has charge of arrangements.