World War II veteran remembered for her faith, volunteerism
Whenever Frances Marie Morris was approached by a stranger asking for help, she would quickly reach into her purse for some money or speak with the person about their need and try to direct them to resources. “This is what I do,” Morris would say. Morris, a World War II veteran who lived in Santa Fe for about 35 years, died Saturday at her home here surrounded by family and friends. She was 96 years old.
“Her Catholic faith drove her,” said one of her sons, John Morris of Oklahoma City. “She always had a service heart.”
Frances Morris, a member of Cristo Rey Catholic Church for 33 years and a volunteer with the Santa Fe chapter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a charitable aid program that helps residents with rent, utilities and food, was born Oct. 6, 1922, in Philadelphia.
According to several of Morris’ children, her mother suffered from depression and her father, a fireman, sometimes found it difficult to find work in the Depression era.
A single child, Morris grew up wanting to make a difference by empathizing with and helping those less fortunate than herself.
Though she never attended college, she became a self-taught expert on the history, literature and religions of other countries.
She enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve during World War II, when the branch began pushing a “Free A Marine to Fight” campaign, urging women to fill stateside service positions. She worked as a recruiter until, following the June 6, 1944, invasion of Normandy — known as D-Day — she saw the list of causalities from that battle and recognized the names of many of the young men she had recruited. She stayed in the Marines until 1946. Morris met her first husband, Thomas Morris, a fellow Marine, in 1944. According to her daughter Mary, Frances Morris told a girlfriend at the time, “That’s the man I’m going to marry.” And she did. The couple had 10 children together.
Morris moved to Santa Fe in the early 1980s to help Mary, who was undergoing a medical crisis at the time.
Mary Morris said her mother quickly became involved in local volunteer efforts, particularly through her church.
“She grew up very poor, so she knew what it was like to be on the other side,” Mary Morris said.
Thomas Morris died in the mid-1990s. Frances Morris remarried, her daughter said, but her second husband also preceded her in death.
Frances Morris is survived by nine of her children, 16 grandchildren and 14 greatgrandchildren. The family plans a funeral Mass for her at 10 a.m. Saturday at Cristo Rey Catholic Church.