Man who built Diman Regional in Fall River 55 years ago watching daughter lead building of new school

FALL RIVER/SOMERSET/SWANSEA/WESTPORT, MA – In 1968, Gerry Murphy was lead construction superintendent for the Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School project. Gerry worked for Wescott Construction and was on hand to celebrate the opening of the new school on Stonehaven Road in Fall River. At the time, there were no women working on the project. There were also no female students at this vocational school.

On Friday, 85-year-old Gerry Murphy will watch as his daughter helps lead the team building the new Diman Regional Voke Tech.

Maureen Murphy of Suffolk is lead planner for the project and will be on site for the duration of construction to ensure the project is completed safely, successfully, and on-time. Maureen was inspired by her father to pursue a career in construction and proud papa Gerry will be up from Florida to be with his daughter. When Gerry led construction of the school, original drawings were on onionskin, and you could not make phone calls from a construction site without a landline. His daughter Maureen works with all the latest, most advanced building technologies. Her dad is simply amazed when Maureen shows him the wonders of BIM and VDC modeling.

Today, women like Maureen are emerging as leaders of today’s building industry. Maureen’s longtime boss at Suffolk, who is also female, is very proud of Maureen. Her dad is proud, too.