Maggie Murphy passed peacefully on October 16, 2026 in Alliance, Nebraska. She was 101, born January 31, 1925 to Charles and Martha Murphy.
Growing up on a ranch outside Alliance, Nebraska, Maggie often rode eight hours a day checking for sick or stray cattle and broken windmills. She drove a tractor in the hayfield, learned to shoot, became Rodeo Queen for western Nebraska, and rode with a precision riding team.
She graduated from St. Mary’s Academy Denver (1943), and from the University of Denver (1947) with a degree in Journalism. At DU she was Panhellenic Council Senior President,
Women’s Student Council, Who’s Who, Theta Phi Alpha president, Miss Charm and Parakeets Cheerleader.
Maggie was an active volunteer for her church, non-profits and civic organizations. She was a special education tutor, made sandwiches for the downtown homeless, was a social worker for the Good Shepherd Home For Girls and tended the rose garden at Porter Hospice. She was a mammal preparator at the Denver Museum of Natural History where she skinned 62 animals to build them into museum exhibits, including a polar bear, musk ox, leopard, black rhinoceros, zebra, giraffe and an elephant. She organized a Rosary Circle and a Mahjong Club. In 1989 she participated in a sting to help the FBI arrest two fugitives.
Maggie traveled widely in the U.S. and internationally (Ireland, England, Scotland, Finland, Italy, Africa, Germany, Japan, China and Russia). In China and Russia, Maggie was a trade representative for the petroleum exploration industry. She was an expert fly fisher and fly tyer, and once caught a 120 pound halibut (weighing more than she did) on a boat trip in Alaska.
She is survived by her son Tim Stevens (Patti), stepdaughters Lisa Stennes, Marianne (Dennis) Estrada and Michele (Brian) Schick and stepsons Gene (Clara) Kooper and John (Cindy) Kooper, grandchildren Zachary Stevens and Flannery Stevens, nieces Cathy Murphy and Nancey Murphy, and nephew Dan Murphy. Maggie was preceded in death by her daughter Molly, husbands Robert Stevens, James Lane and Edward Kooper. Maggie was married to Robert Stevens for 34 years until his passing in 1984. She married James Lane (1992) and was married nine years until his passing in 2001. She married Ed Kooper (2007) and was married fifteen years until his passing in 2023.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be Friday, October 23 at 10:00 a.m. at Holy Rosary Catholic Church with Father Matt Koperski officiating. Interment will be in the Nebraska Veterans Cemetery.
Online condolences may be left at www.batesgould.com with Bates-Gould Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.