RUMFORD – Clement E. Murphy, 81, died Friday, Dec. 17, at the Rumford Community Home, Rumford. He had made his home on Howard Street, Dixfield, and had lived in the area for many years.

He was born in Berlin, N.H., on Jan. 6, 1923, a son of Cornelius and Robina Miller Murphy and had attended local schools.

He worked as a trimmer at Oxford Paper Co., which later became Ethyl Corporation, where he worked in the steam plant as a boiler operator. He retired in 1978, after more than 30 years.

He was a communicant of St. Athanasius-St. John Church.

He was a member of Napoleon Ouellette Post No. 24, American Legion; member of Ethyl Corporation 25 Year Club; a member of Rumford Maine Lodge No. 862, B.P.O.E.; and a former member of the Antique Auto Club.

He loved to antique with his late wife, and to work on his 1931 Model A Roadster.

He always had a smile on his face, a warm handshake, and a song in his heart.

He was married in Rumford on Feb. 27, 1943, to the late Eileen Butler, who died April 27, 1994.

He is survived by a son, William “Bill” Murphy and his wife, Mary Ann, of Mexico; a daughter, Barbara Belanger and her husband, Laurier “Bebe,” of Rumford; six grandchildren, Michelle Belanger of Thomaston, Matthew Belanger of Weymouth, Mass., Kelley Louvat and her husband, David, of Mexico, Keith Kennedy of Dixfield, Christine Moore and her husband, Michael, of Mexico, and Denise Murphy of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; two great-grandchildren, Alexander and Mariah Witas of Mexico; a sister, Mary Dearborn of Berlin, N.H.; and a brother, Norman Murphy of Boca Raton, Fla.