Nyla A. Murphy (January 31, 1931 – June 6, 2015) was an American lawyer, real estate broker, flight attendant, and politician. A Republican, she served in the

Wyoming House of Representatives The Wyoming House of Representatives is the lower house of the Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming State Legislature. There are 62 Representatives in the House, representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the Wyoming, st ...

for 12 years from 1979 to 1991. She lived in

Casper, Wyoming Casper is a city in and the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the List of municipalities in Wyoming, second-most populous city in the state after Cheyenne, Wyoming, Cheyenne, with the population at 59,038 as of th ...

and represented

Natrona County Natrona County is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 79,955, making it the second-most populous county in Wyoming. Its county seat is Casper. Natrona County comprises the Casper, WY ...

Biography

Nyla A. Murphy was born on January 31, 1931, in

Stilesville, Indiana Stilesville is a town in Franklin Township, Hendricks County, Indiana, United States. The population was 316 at the 2010 Census. History Stilesville was laid out in 1828. It was named for Jeremiah Stiles, a pioneer settler. The National Road ...

. She graduated from

Arsenal Technical High School Arsenal Technical High School, commonly referred to as Tech or Arsenal Tech, is a public high school in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, which is run by the Indianapolis Public Schools district. The school is located on a , multiple buildin ...

in 1949, and attended

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

, but had to drop out due to work. She met Charles J. Huff while working as an airline stewardess. She married him, had three children, and moved to Wyoming before his death in 1977. She graduated from the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...

with a bachelor of science in political science in 1989, and from the

University of Wyoming College of Law A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

in 1993. Nyla operated a real estate business. She practice law in Riverton for a few years before moving back to Laramie and creating her own law practice. During Murphy's tenure in the state house she served on the Labor, Health, and Social Services, Mines, Minerals, and Industrial Development, and Judiciary committees. She died from

bile duct cancer Cholangiocarcinoma, also known as bile duct cancer, is a type of cancer that forms in the bile ducts. Symptoms of cholangiocarcinoma may include abdominal pain, yellowish skin, weight loss, generalized itching, and fever. Light colored stoo ...

at Ivinson Memorial Hospital in Laramie, Wyoming, on June 6, 2015.

Political positions

The Wyoming Right to Choose PAC reported Murphy as supporting abortion rights during the 1990 gubernatorial election.

References

Works cited

* 1931 births 2015 deaths Deaths from cancer in Wyoming Deaths from cholangiocarcinoma in the United States People from Hendricks County, Indiana Butler University alumni University of Wyoming alumni University of Wyoming College of Law alumni Flight attendants Businesspeople from Wyoming Wyoming lawyers Women state legislators in Wyoming Republican Party members of the Wyoming House of Representatives Politicians from Laramie, Wyoming Politicians from Casper, Wyoming People from Riverton, Wyoming 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American women 20th-century members of the Wyoming Legislature 20th-century American women politicians {{Wyoming-politician-stub