2010 Order of Merit
Marion Murphy
Nominated by CUCM
Marion Murphy (nee Wroth) was nominated for a posthumous Order of Merit Award in the Pioneer category by the board of Credit Union Central of Manitoba.
Ms. Wroth was a strong leader of the Manitoba system during a period in which it was evolving in terms of its provincial organization, and finding its place in the wider system outside the province.
At the local level, she served as secretary and board member of Swift Canadian Employees Credit Union from 1946 to 1960. (Swift Employees, incorporated in 1945, amalgamated in 1979 with Cooperators Credit Union, which was later renamed Cambrian.) Her service to the wider system began with her election to the executive of the Greater Winnipeg (District 1) Credit Union Chapter, which she served for six years in the 1950’s, two as president.
In 1953 she was elected as a board member of the Co-operative Credit Society of Manitoba and then, in 1956, as the inaugural 1st Vice-President of the Credit Union League of Manitoba, an organization she served until 1960. (The Manitoba League, to which all 192 credit unions and CCSM itself belonged, had the “primary responsibility for the general direction of all phases of the organized credit union movement in this province, including all matters related to general policies, promotion, organization, protection and representation at all levels.” — MB CU League Articles of Incorporation).
From 1956 to 1960 she served as a director and resolutions committee member of the Madison-based Credit Union National Association — CUNA being the top tier for the Canadian leagues at the time. It was in Madison that she met Clarence Murphy, Managing Director of the California Credit Union League, whose proposal of marriage she accepted.
Mrs. Murphy appears to have withdrawn from active involvement in the credit union system after moving to California with her husband to raise a family.
The board of Credit Union Central of Manitoba chose to give the $1,000 bursary attached to this award to a student in the new Management of Co-operatives course in the University of Winnipeg’s Department of Economics.