A westerner’s enduring bond with the Emirati way of life

AUTHOR PATRICIA MORRIS, WHO DIED LAST WEEK, SAVOURED ARAB CULTURE

Assistant Editor

When Patricia Morris was buried by the side of her husband in a corner of a meadow in front of their family home on a quaint hill in Cornwall last Wednesday, there were shells scattered on her grave.

Not an uncommon practice for a last-rites ritual, one may say. Except that those shells were sent all the way from Dubai by Patricia’s great grandchildren. Dubai residents, they had collected them from the beach and shipped them a continent away.

Three continents, three countries, three cultures and several lives were all knit and bound into one composite whole called humanity at Patricia’s final resting place.

Patricia, an American by birth, was married to Britisher Claud Morris, with both husband wife later developing a strong affinity towards exploring the beauty and intricacies of Arab culture, travelling several times to the UAE and bonding with Arab life in general and one Emirati family in particular.

Fittingly enough, she received a phone call from one of her Emirati “sons”, less than a week before she died.

Allure of printed word

For both husband and wife, the allure of the printed word held much significance. Both came from a publishing background. It is therefore no wonder that Patricia’s book Mother Without a Mask and Claud’s seminal The Desert Falcon, a biography of Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, are both remarkable in their pursuit to showcase the rich repertoire of Arab culture.

In the words of their daughter Ann Morris, “she [Patricia] was fascinated by the culture of the Arab world — and alongside my father believed fervently in the importance of understanding between cultures and people. They both worked for that throughout their lives”.

How it all started

Throwing some more light into the lives of Patricia and Claud, who passed away in 2000, Ann said Patricia was studying in London when

America entered the Second World War in December 1941. As soon as she was old enough, she became a Red Cross nurse and travelled to Paris in 1944. When she returned to the US, she became involved in TV

production, producing an early magazine show.

She came to London again in September 1948 to attend the wedding of a French woman whom she had served with in Paris and who had become a