1926 - Born in Atlanta, Georgia; daughter of John Milton McCullough Jr. and  Fannie Lamar Manley (later Mrs. Herbert Maxwell Williams) 

• Attends Atlanta public schools, takes classes at High Museum of Art, Sullins Junior College in Virginia, and the Semple School in New York City    

1948 - Graduates from Wesleyan Conservatory Summa Cum Laude BFA after studying with Emil Holzhauer;

• Confesses on mid-50s alumnae information form that successful prank of “ringing the bell” had won her “months” of restriction!) 

• Marries Flewellyn Plant Murphey (b Macon August 9, 1914) of Macon at First Presbyterian Church, Atlanta 

• Joins Mulberry United Methodist Church, later helps to found its Altar Guild 

1949 - Birth of daughter, Valeria Rankin Murphey; now married to Richard Bragg 

• Macon Telegraph reports on design and construction of Twin Pines home featuring furniture she and her husband designed and built themselves 

1950 - Living at 1494 Twin Pines Drive, Macon per the 1950 Census 

1950s - Joins Junior League (later President), Town and Country Garden Club (later President), and Colonial Dames of America in the State of Georgia among other groups 

1956 - Junior League agrees to sponsor the nascent Macon Youth Museum, which becomes a major focus of Valeria’s; she goes on to serve on the Museum board for thirty years 

1958 - As League representative attends the American Association of Museums  conference with the Museum director to learn how to develop the Youth Museum 

1959 - Chairs Museum’s first adult and corporate membership drive 

1961 - Chairs Junior League’s largest ever fundraiser, the Americana Sale, which raised $l4,320.88 to benefit the Museum 

• Serves as Corresponding Secretary for the Museum 

1963-64 - Serves as President of Junior League 

• Helps expand Museum mission (with consequent name change from Youth Museum to Museum of Arts and Sciences), chairs membership drive and Future Funds Committee 

1966 -  After studying funding of other museums leads Museum’s solicitation of public funds and charter changes to establish a Board of Trustees made up of public officials 

1960s-70s - Serves on Boards of the American Red Cross, Middle Georgia Historical        
    Society,

• Also on the Board of Advisors of Booker T. Washington Community Center;

• Volunteers for Community Concert Association, Morning Music Club, Macon Council on World Affairs, and Macon Arts Council 

• Becomes a director of SSS Drug Co of Atlanta, a firm founded by her  great, great grandfather, Henry James Lamar 

1969 - Val Sheridan and Neva Fickling plan and execute a massive undertaking that saves the Grand Opera House; Valeria originates the project’s name, “Grand Topper”   

1972 - Ends revolving-director spiral at Museum by hiring Museum’s first long-term executive, and leads development of first major long-term strategic plan 

1973 - With her friend Mary Kinman found a wholesale firm, “Things, etc.”, producing crafts of her design, and marketing them through merchandise marts in NYC, Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles. Sold in 1986 

1977 - With Neva Fickling, convinces the Bibb Manufacturing Company to produce Macon Heritage sheets featuring Valeria’s drawings of local historic sites, a fund-raising project for Junior League’s Designer Showhouse 

• Joins Wesleyan’s Board of Associates 

1980 - Chairs Hay House Council for the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation; generates local support by getting commitments from twelve of Macon’s most powerful community leaders—all men, of course 

1981 - Named Volunteer of the Year by the Georgia Trust; serves as Vice President of the Trust’s Board of Trustees 

•  Joins Wesleyan College’s Board of Trustees; in 1983 chairs Presidential Search Committee, creatively structuring it to involve every College constituency (Trustees, Board of Associates, faculty, staff, alumnae, and students);

• Also chairs the Leadership Gifts Division of the Wesleyan Campaign for Advancement ($8.8 million goal exceeded by $2 million) 

1982 - Receives Woman of the Year Award from the Macon-Bibb County Clean Community Commission 

• Organizes fundraisers for former Macon Mayor Buck Melton’s run for Governor 

1986 - Receives Wesleyan Alumnae Association Award for Distinguished  Service 

• Named first woman, first alumna, to Chair Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees 

1988 - Named to Gracious Ladies of Georgia 

    Spearheads organization of Georgia Women of Achievement to honor the       
    unrecognized contributions of women of Georgia through history,         
    engaging former First Lady Rosalyn Carter to lend her imprimatur to the        
    project which she envisions as an appropriate complement to the First        
    College in the World Chartered to Grant Degrees to Women 

1989 - Wesleyan announces plan to renovate and rename its art facility the Valeria McCullough Murphey Art Building; friends raise $300,000 to fund the renovation 

• Student Government Association presents her with its Service Award, and the 1988-89 Annual, Veterropt, is dedicated to her Wesleyan Alumnae Association created the Valeria McCullough Murphey Award for extraordinary service, making her its first recipient.

• The College awards her an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at its April Graduation 

1990 - Dies at 63 following an extended illness 

• Though she had no typically paid “career” she is posthumously named a 1990 “Woman of Achievement” by Macon’s Career Women’s Network 

• Stunt 1990 dedicated to “The Greatest of the Green Knights”