My maiden name is Diane Tucker and in 1963, in the spring of eighth grade, I was at Our Lady of Fatima Elementary School. I was so excited that I was rated as the number one student in the eighth grade with the highest grade average. I was a straight A student. I was a member of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church. With all the racial unrest in Birmingham at the time, my church, my community and my family grounded me and made me feel safe. Then Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was bombed and four young Black girls were killed, one of whom I knew. I felt like the world was ending. For the first time in my life, I was scared.
Dian Murphy
I attended Our Lady of Fatima Elementary School and was also a member of Our Lady of Fatima Church. In the fall of 1963, I became a freshman at Immaculata High School. When Archbishop Toolan decreed that Catholic schools in the diocese would be integrated, I along with Robert Smith, Madeleine Humphrey and Fred Tyson integrated John Carroll High School. Madeleine and Robert entered as Juniors, and Fred and I entered as Sophomores.
After graduating in 1967, I integrated Birmingham Southern College.
I left college in 1970 to become a Flight Attendant with Delta Airlines. I was based in Atlanta, Georgia. I married and had a daughter, but company policy forced my resignation because I was pregnant.
After my divorce, I became a Flight Attendant with Eastern Airlines. I flew for fifteen years, fourteen of them as a Senior Flight Attendant. The last five years with Eastern I was also one of three Union Representatives for a base of 1200 Flight Attendants. I was also on the board of the Atlanta Labor Council and the Center for Democratic Renewal (formerly the National Anti-Klan Network).
When Eastern went on strike, I worked closely with the ALPA (the pilots union) and the union representing the mechanics, baggage handlers, cleaners and other ground employees. I walked the picket lines and spoke at rallies sponsored by the Teamsters Union. I even spoke at their national convention in Miami, Florida, where I shared the stage with Jesse Jackson.
After the failure of the airline, I went to work for AT&T as an Account Executive with the Small Business division. After five years, I became a Senior Account Executive. I eventually moved to the Large Business division and then moved up to handle clients who were large national and international corporations. I lived in Savannah, Georgia, for two and a half years before returning to live in Atlanta, Georgia. My last five years before retiring I had Manhattan in NYC as my territory although I still lived in Atlanta. I was a very successful AE and Senior AE and was frequently recognized for my outstanding achievements. I retired in 2014 because of a chronic and debilitating illness, Lupus. I had struggled with it since I was a child but was not diagnosed until 1996. I was able to manage it until 2010 when I became seriously ill with frequent hospitalizations. I was on disability until I reached the age of 65 in 2014.
I am grateful to have had two careers that I loved and was able to achieve success at both. As a single parent, I was able to provide my child with a lifestyle that few people have. We traveled across the country and to several different countries where we experienced different cultures.
I am proud of myself for providing well for her. I’m so proud of my daughter and for all that she has accomplished. She has been in IT for almost thirty years and is currently an IT Project Manager and Data Analyst for a large corporation who manufactures eighteen wheelers and other industrial equipment. I’m proud of her for giving me two beautiful grandchildren, a boy and a girl. But what I’m most proud of is the kind and compassionate person that she is and that she’s raised her children to be. She is always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need.
In 2018, after 48 years of living in Atlanta, I moved back to Birmingham to help care for my ailing, elderly parents. My only sibling, my brother, had died three years earlier. My daughter and her family had moved to Greenville, SC. Unfortunately, both of my parents died in a fire in 2021, leaving me devastated. My daughter decided in 2022 to move to Birmingham so we would all once again be together. She had spent a lot of her childhood in Birmingham and really liked Birmingham.
Today, Birmingham is like a new city to me. The ghosts of the past have been put to rest.
In September of 2024, John Carroll High School celebrated the Sixtieth anniversary of the original four of us integrating the school in 1964. We were honored with a plaque and dogwood tree that is in front of the school. The four of us, Madeleine, Robert, Fred and I are now known as “The Trailblazers.” A scholarship fund has been established in our names to assist in tuition costs for minority students entering John Carroll as a freshman. It is truly an honor to be a part of history.