She’s coming home. Longtime Fair Havenite Evelyn Halliday Murphy will be honored and bid farewell on Friday and Saturday in her hometown community where she lived most of her life, raised a family, volunteered and was a bright, kind comforting everyday presence — a gentle, beaming reminder around every corner of what hometown really means.

Evelyn passed away at 97 on Sept. 3 at the home of her son, David, in Florida, where she had been living. The family is reuniting with the community to say goodbye in the town she loved surrounded by people and places she loved.

Many remember her bright red hair, warm smile and kind no-nonsense words. A volunteer at Knollwood School, the Fair Haven Election Board  and Church of the Nativity, where her funeral service is set for Saturday,  Evelyn also participated in local theater and worked at Steinbach’s Department Store in Red Bank for 35 years, retiring at 83.

Evelyn eventually came to Fair Haven from Tarrytown, NY, where she was born. She had spent her summers in Rockaway Beach where her parents ran a restaurant on the boardwalk.

Shortly after World War II, Evelyn met her husband, John. In 1950, they moved to Fair Haven, where they raised their seven children. After John’s death in 1980, Evelyn continued to live on Hunting Lane until moving to Jensen Beach, Florida, where she lived with her son David and daughter-in-law, Dorothy and eventually passed away peacefully.

In addition to her husband, Evelyn was predeceased by her brother, Herbert Halliday. She is survived by: her children, Christopher, Kenneth, Timothy (Karen), Thomas, David (Dorothy), Eileen Pedersen (Jeffrey), Jeanne Wnorowski (Mark), ten grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

For all those in the community who would like to say goodbye and honor Evelyn Murphy’s memory, visitation will be held Friday, Oct. 28 at John E. Day Funeral Home, 85 Riverside Ave., Red Bank from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m.

A Celebration of Life Mass will be held at the Church of the Nativity, 180 Ridge Rd., Fair Haven at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29. The interment will follow at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Middletown.

You may visit Evelyn’s memorial website at www.johnedayfuneralhome.com.