Jennifer Murphy Clement - Online Memorial Website

Jennifer was born in Roseland, NJ on October 23, 1969.  She grew up at Pitcarin Drive, in Roseland, and attended the Lester C Noecker School (K through 6) and then West Essex Regional Middle School and High School. 

 

She was an avid Basketball and Field Hockey player, and was All State in Field Hockey and Captain of her Team.

 

Her best friend was Sheila Carroll, a next door neighbor.  She and Sheila would get into all sorts of messes together but remarkably never got caught!  They would hide in people's houses, scare the 'old lady next door- "Deary,"' play 'peeping toms', make fun of their respective grandmothers etc.  It wasn't until years later that they confessed and all the details came out. They would laugh for hours telling the stories until everyone was crying! 

Jennifer attended the State University of New York (SUNY) at Cortland, NY.  She switched majors from physical education to fine arts, and having attained the Academic Dean's List, received a Bachelor of Arts, Summa Cum Laude, in 1992. 

 

In the first week of Jennifer's first semester, she was told that her father had slipped down some stairs at home and later died in the Hospital.  Jennifer adored her father and grieved over his death for the rest of her life.

Jennifer was a Visiting Student in the Art History Program at the State University of New York, Purchase campus.  She was a junior in college at the time.

From 1992 to 1994, Jennifer was the store manager for RIO! a retail store on the Ithaca, NY Commons, selling mostly Eileen Fisher clothing.   She worked with Wanda McDonald, who became a life-long friend.  She shared an apartment with Greg Copeland and Jim Jacobs, rode a Yamaha 650 motorcycle, and frequented the Chapter House Brewpub, where she met James Clement, the owner. 

To recover from a tragic personal event, Jennifer went to Honolulu, HI for a month to recover.  She played baseball occasionally for the Moose McGillicutty baseball team, and stayed in a condo in the Ilikai Marina on Waikiki. 

 

James went to Hawaii in mid-August to help his friend Gary Dubin with a tax case, and spent much of his off time with Jennifer.  Thier favorite place to go was the Hilton Lagoon beach area, noodle shops in Waikiki, Gordon Biersch's in the Aloha Tower, and jogging around Diamond Head.

Jennifer enrolled in the Winter Semester at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.  Her focus was printmaking.  She and James took an apartment on Clinton Avenue, just off of Fort Green Park, and enjoyed walking into NYC over the Brooklyn Bridge many times.  Jennifer graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts, Magna Cum Laude, in 1997.

Jennifer took over The Haunt, a famous college music club, from the original owner, John Peterson in 1996.  She learned to book talent from John and booked performers such as Son Seals, Jimmy Johnson, Poe, Moe, Percy Hill, Burning Spear, Culture, Foundation, Yellow Man, DJ Spooky and many others.

Although they were supposed to go to Exton, PA to visit John and Ellen, James told Jennifer he didn't feel well so that they could stop in NYC.  James took Jennifer to the Top of the World Trade Center and proposed to her on the observation deck overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge.  Afterwards, they had dinner at Village Yokocho, 8 Stuyvesant St, New York, NY 10003, the Japanese/Korean restaurant on Stuyvesent Avenue just off 3rd Avenue, above a place called "Round the Clock Diner."  This became a special place for them and they celebrated several anniversaries at this restaurant.  Afterwards, they went to their favorite Village bar called Telephone Bar and Grill on Second Ave, and their favorite bartender gave them champagne in honor of the occasion. 

One of Jennifer's favorite holidays was Fourth of July and she decided to get married the day before, so that it would be close to this holiday.  Jennifer and James spent a few days in Honolulu, where they picked up the marriage license, and then flew to Maui.  They were married on Honeymoon Beach by Judge Shakley Raffetto (from James' old law firm, Mukai, Ichiki, Raffetto & McMillan).   After the ceremony, they headed to Shark's Brewpub in Maui for their dinner.

 

In June of 1997, the Hawaiian singer Brother IZ (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole) died.  They were playing a lot of his songs on the radio during this time, and Jennifer and James fell in love with his music.  One of her favorite songs, "White Sandy Beach in Hawaii" is the music played on this website.

 

After returning to Ithaca, Alice threw a luau on her lawn for Jennifer and James.  While everyone else wore Hawaiian attire, Jerry came in formal attire, and after dinner threw Jennifer into the Lake. 

Jennifer became the Night and Food & Beverage Manager at the Holiday Inn Executive Tower, in downtown Ithaca, NY.  She learned a lot about the operations of a hotel and worked various night and weekend shifts making sure the operations ran smoothly.

 

Jennifer and James rented a house in Moravia, from his friend Perry Geib.  Once, Jennifer got stuck in the house during a flood for several days, while James was running the Chapter House and couldn't get back to the house because of flooded roads. 

James and Jennifer moved from Ithaca, NY to Panama, Republic of Panama.  James worked as a tax-consultant and Jennifer did web design work.  While there, James met a client who asked him to move to Florida to help him with legal work.

Jennifer came to Florida a week ahead of James, and John Peterson, who was now a stock broker at A.G. Edwards in Melbourne, FL helped her look for a house to rent.  She found a two bedroom house on Brentwood Circle off Wickham Road near the Brevard County Community College. Within days, she was hired by Enterprise Rent A Car, where she worked for about seven years.

Jennifer transferred from Enterprise Rent A Car in Melbourne, to Orlando because James needed to work closer with this employer who lived in Winter Park, FL.  They moved to Maitland, FL and were living here and James was working from home on Sept. 11th, 2001 when the World Trade Center buildings came down.

Jennifer and James moved to Jacobaeus Lane, in Indialantic, FL.  This development was across A1A from the Ocean.  They took many hour-long walks on the beach and frequently swam in the ocean. 

 

John, Ellen, Matt, Brian and Emily came to visit during this time.  Later Tom and Jessica came with Ben.

 

One of their frequent hangouts was Coasters, in the strip-mall just touching the development.  This bar had huge Club Sandwiches, hot wings, and lots of imported and microbrewed beers.  From time to time they'd also go to Charlie & Jakes Brewery Grill on Wickham Road.

 

While they lived in Indialantic, Jerry Murphy moved his live-aboard boat from Jersey City, NJ to the marina in Indialantic, just a mile from their house.  Jerry frequently came over or met them at Coasters.

 

During this time, Jennifer worked at the Enterprise Rent A Car office in Cocoa, FL.  James ran an oil exploration company called Advantage Resources, and made frequent trips to San Antonio, TX.

 

 

Jennifer's boss, Paul Ahrens became the Area Manager for the Orlando Airport Branch for Enterprise Rent A Car and brought Jennifer with him to be his assistant.  James went to work for A.G. Edwards and they moved into the Peterson's old house in the Wildwood subdivision off Wickham Road.  Jennifer and James would frequently drive to Wickham Park and walk an hour around the trails. Jennifer began long-distance running again and worked up to 18 mile stretches before her knees started giving out.  They frequently drove to Indialantic or Cocoa to take weekend walks on the beach.  Jennifer began golfing and spent many afternoons at the driving ranges at Turtle Creek Golf Club, and another off US1 in Cocoa.  They spent a lot of time with John, Alejandra and Sofia Peterson, who lived a few miles away.

Jennifer and James moved to Wickham Lakes.  The location was perfect for many long, quiet walks as Viera West was not fully developed at that time.  They loved sneaking into the homes being built in the neighboring golf-course development and checking out the floorplans.  When they moved in, Wal-mart and the Brevard County offices were there, but soon afterwards they opened The Avenues shopping center and a Target Super Store next to their development. 

 

Jennifer continued to commute to Orlando and spent most of her leisure time hitting balls at the driving range.  They walked on the beach just below the Pier in Cocoa nearly every weekend. 

 

James began working as a real estate developer, backed by Firoz Shroff in Toronto. 

 

One of their favorite memories was walking back from Target with Jennifer and James carrying a large Christmas tree, stumbling, cursing and laughing all the way.

Shortly after optioning "The Hampton Bay" 464-acre development property off Lake Mary Jane, in Orlando, FL, James came across a home being built in this neighborhood.  They bought the house and moved in in August, 2005

For James' 50th birthday, Firoz Shroff gave him and Jennifer a cruise trip.  They departed from Port Canaveral, Florida on the Carnival Glory for seven days with stops in Key West, Belize, and Costa Maya Mexico. 

Jennifer and James moved from Orlando, FL to The Lakes Apartments, in Costa Mesa, CA.  James became the COO for Stem Cell Products, and Jennifer went to work for TurboData in Tustin, CA.  Shortly afterwards, Jennifer became ill and left TurboData to work from home in her own business, an internet traffic website (VisitorHost.com), and later for a website owned by James called The Realty Domain.  James and Jennifer frequently spent time walking the seaside sidewalk in Newport Beach, and Jennifer loved going to Huntington Beach. 

While staying at Alice Murphy's apartment in Thorndale, PA, Jennifer passed away in the early morning on March 4, 2008 at the age of 38.