Brothers grieve loss

It hurts to lose a brother.

"If you knew Lucas, it was like Lucas was your best friend," recalled Michael Zahorchak (junior-landscape architecture), fraternity brother and friend of Murphy's since childhood.

Zahorchak and other members who knew Murphy well talked about their friend on a warm, clear afternoon while sitting inside their fraternity, their speech breaking the eerie quiet in a house which normally would have been bustling on a pleasant spring day.

Murphy, who had joined Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity in fall 1994, was working as an intern at a Colorado resort at the time of his death, Zahorchak said. While returning from a visit to Las Vegas on March 27, the vehicle Murphy was driving left the road when he fell asleep at the wheel, he said. The crash killed only Murphy, one of four students in the vehicle.

Murphy died at what was possibly the highest point of his life, said fraternity member Brian Rowan (senior-turfgrass science). While working at the resort, he said, Murphy had been offered a permanent job, which, in addition to his good grades and enjoyment of his courses, made it clear to his fraternity brothers that his life was exactly where he wanted it to be.

"He was always positive," said fraternity member Justin Caranfa (junior-wood products).

He, along with Zahorchak and fraternity member Jarrod Wallace (junior-business logistics), had known Murphy since childhood. Friends even then, the group decided to remain together by joining the same fraternity at the University.

"We didn't think we could split up," Caranfa quietly recalled, looking to the floor.

The 21-year-old hotel, restaurant and institutional management major made a quick impression on everyone he met, Zahorchak said. He was able to almost instantly connect with people, he said. This quality made him well-liked by his fraternity members.

Fraternity members remember Murphy as someone who was also "extremely close" to his family.

Murphy's parents, Paul and Linda Murphy of Greensburg, had just visited their son about a month ago, Wallace said. The Murphys had also visited him at the Phi Sigma Kappa house frequently, he said. These visits allowed fraternity members to get to know Murphy's entire family.

"They're a strong family," Wallace noted.

On Monday, March 31, 65 members of the fraternity traveled to Greensburg to attend their fraternity brother's funeral, Rowan said. While there, the Murphy family treated the deluge of visitors with the same hospitality they had on prior visits, cooking for and entertaining their numerous guests, Rowan said.

Murphy's mother Linda said visits and calls from both fraternity and community members were a great help in the week following her son's death.

While it has been a difficult time, she said, it has also been a time to consider the fulfilling life Murphy led.

"He didn't have one or two friends," she said. "He called someone different every day."

The devotion her son's fraternity members felt for each other was apparent at the Monday funeral, Linda Murphy said. Standing at the front of the church, fraternity members recited a creed, bidding a solemn and dignified farewell to their brother.