The Sabine Hall of Fame committee is pleased to honor Mrs. Phyllis Murdock as a Posthumous Award recipient for 2025. Mrs. Murdock’s service and philanthropy exceeded five decades, during which she served the Zwolle community and Sabine Parish in many roles. These roles included teacher, committee member and project supporter.
She is one of three selected to receive a posthumous award at the annual Sabine Hall of Fame to be held Tuesday, March 25, at the Many VFW Hall, 1738 San Antonio Ave., at 6:30 p.m. Ticket locations are listed below.
Phyllis D’Abadie Murdock was born on June 20, 1933 to Bessie and J.C. D’Abadie in Jeanerette, LA in Iberia Parish. Her family moved from Jeanerette when she was young to Jennings, then Lake Charles. She graduated from LSU Baton Rouge with a degree in Accounting. There she met the late Lloyd A. (Bucky) Murdock, and they were married in June 1955 in Lake Charles. They had two children, Allen and Renee; three grandchildren - Whitney, Allie and Duncan.
She taught school for 35 years, one year at St. Joseph Elementary, nine years at Ebarb High School, and 25 years at Many High School where she taught Business. During her years of teaching, she received her master’s degree in Business education from Northwestern State University as well as 30+ hours of additional study. She served as the founding sponsor for Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) at Many High School and Ebarb High School. She also initiated a Cooperative Office Education (COE) class in the parish where students in the senior class worked in offices in the parish during school afternoons following classes in the morning. She retired from teaching in 1994 and began her dedicated community work and extensive travel to see the world.
She was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church since when she moved to Zwolle, Bucky’s hometown, in 1959. She served as a Eucharistic Lay Minister, Lector, member of the Finance Council for two terms and as a Trustee.
She also served on the Diocesan Finance Council for ten years, was the recipient of the Diocesan Service Medal in both the Diocese of Alexandria and the Shreveport Diocese. She was a member of St. Theresa’s Circle and served as the Editor of St. Joseph’s quarterly newsletter, “The Messenger” for five years. In addition, she was a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher, (a Catholic organization dedicated to encouraging the Christian presence in the Holy Land.) She made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land where she received the Pilgrim’s Shell. As a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (an international Catholic charity with 700,000 members worldwide), she helped establish a food pantry at St. Joseph’s and served as its coordinator for 15 years distributing approximately 10,000 pounds of food each month to those in need.
She established a scholarship in 2000 in memory of her husband, the Lloyd A. Murdock Scholarship, in conjunction with St. Joseph Catholic Church, which continues to award a $1,000 scholarship each year to a graduating senior of St. Joseph Parish.
Having been a member of the Board of Directors of the Tamale Fiesta Association since its inception in 1976, she served as Chairman of the Queen’s Ball for four years as well as the very successful Poster Committee for 31 years beginning in 1985, retiring as Chairman in 2015. She also served as First Lady of the Fiesta in 1998. She and husband, Bucky, sponsored the State Sillottee Championship for High-powered Rifles for 22 years. She also served as Grand Marshal for the Zwolle Christmas Parade.
Phyllis had a passion for travel and seized every opportunity to explore new places and adventures. She was a true world traveler and happily shared this love with her family. One of her prized possessions was a wall-sized map of the world with pins in every place she had visited. Sone trips included the Silk Route through China, Nepal, Peru to see Machu Pichu and an African Safari. One of her trips was to Chicago to see “Hamilton” on stage.
She loved a good party and her LSU Tigers. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and was a friend to many. She truly lived her life to the fullest and loved the people of Sabine Parish.
She will be recognized with a Posthumous Award by the Sabine Hall of Fame at their annual banquet on March 25, at the Many VFW Hall at 1738 San Antonio Ave. at 6:30 p.m.
Banquet tickets are available at Nichols, the Office of Sen. Alan Seabaugh, 515 S. Capitol in Many; or from Robert Gentry, (318) 332-8653; Martha Henderson, (318) 294-3362; or Pete Abington’s office, (318) 2564344. All table requests please text or call Laurie Gentry at (318) 332-7873.