Aviation pioneer Murphy dies

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006 | 7:25 a.m.

It was a pleasant Sunday morning when Florence Murphy joined her husband, J. M. "Red" Murphy, and their partner, Bud Barrett, in hosting an air show for the grand opening of their Sky Haven Airfield, today the North Las Vegas Airport.

The festivities, however, came to an abrupt, early end when an unscheduled plane -- a military one -- landed and shut down the facility.

The date was Dec. 7, 1941, and hours earlier, the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, forcing the United States into World War II.

"It was quiet -- everybody (in the crowd of about 2,000) was just so devastated," native Nevadan Murphy recalled in a Dec. 16, 2003, Sun story. "(The Army pilot) told the (air show) pilots the military would help get them transportation home, but no one was allowed to fly."

Colanthe "Florence" J. Murphy, the first Nevada woman to receive a commercial pilot's license and the first woman in the United States to serve as a vice president of a regularly scheduled airline, died Monday at Willow Creek Memory Care nursing facility in Las Vegas. She was 94.

Her family said the cause was complications from Alzheimer's disease. She was an active, licensed pilot until age 82 and a local real estate executive until 93.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 71 years will be 11 a.m. Saturday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 877 Temple View Drive. Visitation will be 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at Palm Mortuary-Main Street. Burial will be in Bunkers Memory Gardens, 7251 W. Lone Mountain Road.

"Florence was a pioneer in so many areas of aviation -- she broke down so many barriers for women," said Mark Hall-Patton, administrator of the Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum at McCarran International Airport.

She received her general pilot's license in 1938 and seven years later joined Bonanza Airlines. Founded as a charter service in 1945, Bonanza by the end of the decade was a commercial airline with Reno-to-Las Vegas flights. It later merged with two other small airlines and eventually became Hughes Air West, which was acquired by Republic, later bought by Northwest Airlines.

As vice president at Bonanza, Murphy pushed through a proposal that doubled the wages for co-pilots on commercial flights.

Murphy also occasionally piloted flights for Bonanza, Hall-Patton said.

"She had to get on the plane before anyone else so that the passengers did not see that a woman was flying the plane and try to get off," he said.

Las Vegan Darcy Wellington called her grandmother "a woman ahead of her time -- a trailblazer."

"She was a tough lady," Wellington said. "She did not take any guff from anyone. But she also was a classy lady. She always went to town dressed impeccably with matching accessories."

Colanthe Avenue near South Rancho Drive and West Charleston Boulevard is named for Murphy.

Murphy was the sister-in-law of late Humboldt County Assemblyman Phil M. Tobin, who wrote and pushed through the Wide Open Gambling Bill of 1931 that legalized gaming in Nevada.

She also was the grandmother of former University of Texas and Minnesota Vikings linebacker Robin Sendlein, and the great-grandmother of Lyle Sendlein, the starting center on the national football champion Texas Longhorns. Both are Scottsdale, Ariz., residents.

Born Colanthe Jones on Dec. 13, 1911, in Fernley, she disliked her unusual first name and early on started calling herself Florence.

During World War II, Murphy was credited with keeping the fledgling Sky Haven alive. She befriended billionaire flier Howard Hughes, who made frequent flights to and from the airport in the 1940s and '50s.

Murphy retired from commercial aviation in 1958. Her husband died two years later. In retirement, she founded her own real estate firm and created for herself a second long and profitable career.

In addition to her two grandchildren and great-grandson, she is survived by another great-grandson, Austin Sendlein, and a great-granddaughter, Robbie Sendlein, both of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Ed Koch can be reached at 259-4090 or at koch@lasvegassun.com.