Rena Carolyn Murphy Koppelman

Rena Carolyn Murphy Koppelman passed away peacefully on October 18, 2015, at Saint Simeons Episcopal Home in Tulsa, after a long illness.

Rena was born on July 4, 1941 in Oklahoma, the only daughter of Marguerite Éclair Murphy and father, Ralph Stanley Stanford Murphy of Oklahoma. Her parents predeceased her in the 1990’s. Her father often told her that he was pleased she was born on July 4, because then everyone in the United States would celebrate her birthday!.

She graduated from Oklahoma State University (OSU) with a Bachelor of Science degree. While attending OSU, she was active in Mu Kappa Tau, Orange and Black Quill, The Fraternity of Professional Marketing, Student Education Association and the Scholastic Achievement Fraternity. Rena then relocated to California where she became a paralegal and then obtained a Juris Doctorate Summa Cum Laude degree and was admitted to the California State Bar in 1969.

After practicing civil law for a time, she then accepted a position as a Deputy District Attorney, Rena was appointed by Evelle J. Younger, Los Angeles County District Attorney. Being the first female Deputy District Attorney, was noted in many newspapers and during an interview with a reporter, she said, “You don’t have to lose your femininity working in a man’s world. The men are just as polite to me as an attorney as a woman.” Assigned to a variety of misdemeanor and felony calendars, she also was a member of the attorney team involved in the prosecution associated of the infamous Hillside Strangler case.

Subsequent to her career in the Office of the District Attorney, Rena became General Counsel in a successful mortgage brokerage business she and her former husband had developed.
Rena’s last professional assignment, and she would say, most challenging, was as a judicial officer in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, where she presided over cases involving the abused, abandoned and neglected children in the Dependency Courts. After retirement, she served as a Commissioner on the City of Newport Beach Planning Commission.
Rena loved animals, and none more than Mac Murphy II, a large Maine Coon cat, who adored her. Rena and Mac were a ‘dynamic duo” and hosted many parties, with Mac, of course, being the “star” of the event. Mac Murphy II passed away in December 2013.

A world traveler, like her father, Rena often said she wanted to visit as many countries and cities as she could in her life. She did indeed visit many. She said Paris was her favorite city and after she became ill in 2010, she told me that we should take a trip there... She was never able to go back to Paris, but had many warm and wonderful stories to share with all.

Rena also became an astute and talented investor, learning all she could about managing and growing wealth.

I take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to the friends, neighbors and the management and staff at Saint SImeons Episcopal Home, who showed such wonderful kindness and provided comfort to Rena these past 5 years.

Rena shared a fondness for a verse with my deceased husband, Dick. INSERT THE LINES FROM the poem by Dylan Thomas, ‘DO NOT GO GENTLY INTO THAT DARK DARK NIGHT, RAGE, RAGE, AGAINST THE DIMMING OF THE LIGHT. ETC.

Rena, you fought a long and courageous battle, but rest now my friend.

Barbara Fox Wieland
Rena’s Friend Since 1985
October 23, 2015