Early Life and Education
Kerry Murphy was born on April 30, 1960 in Omaha, Nebraska. She grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida, the only child of Shirley and Edward Murphy (1919–2005). Her father served during World War II, and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Reserve after 27 years. He also worked as a residential real estate developer. Her mother worked as a public elementary school teacher.
When Healey was 15, her father suffered a severe heart attack that rendered him unable to work for the rest of his life. This put a financial strain on the family and led Healey to work a number of part-time jobs to help support her family. Throughout high school, she worked at a souvenir shop in Daytona Beach. When she was 16, Healey enrolled in Daytona Beach Community College and began to take classes in computer science. She was then hired to help the Daytona Beach News-Journal become one of the first newspapers to transition from typewriters to computerized word processing. In addition to working to help support her family and save money for college, Healey also served as class president and student council president at Seabreeze High School.
After high school, Healey attended Harvard University with the help of a substantial scholarship. There, she served as the membership secretary of the Harvard Republicans Club and produced six plays. Healey graduated from Harvard in 1982 with an A.B. in government.
After graduating from Harvard, Healey was awarded a Rotary International Scholarship and received a Ph.D. in political science and law from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland in 1991. While in Dublin, she met fellow Rotary Scholar and Harvard alum Sean Healey, whom she married in 1985. Upon completing her studies at Trinity College, Healey spent 1985 as a visiting researcher in the International and Comparative Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School.
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