Donald Murphy grew up in Elmira, New York, and graduated from Saint Mary’s School in 1920, and then the Elmira Free Academy in 1924. He then attended Saint Andrew’s and Saint Bernard’s Seminaries in Rochester, New York, and was ordained a Catholic priest on June 6, 1937. His first appointment was as assistant pastor at the Immaculate Conception Church in Rochester, New York, where he ministered until February 1943, at which time he entered military service as a U.S. Army chaplain. After attending Chaplain School at Harvard University, he was assigned to the 13th Airborne Division, and then to the 90th Infantry Division, sailing with them to the European Theater of Operations in February 1944. After the war he was returned to inactive duty as a U.S. Army major. He was appointed assistant pastor at Saint Thomas Church, Rochester, New York, in April 1946, and six month later was appointed to the faculty of Aquinas Institute where he taught World History and American History until his retirement.