DONALD ALLEN MORRISON

1936-2021

Donald Allen Morrison, 84, died January 16, 2021 at home in Highland Village, Texas. He was born in Mount Forest, Ontario, to Allen Irwin Morrison and Margaret Mary Lennox on July 19, 1936. The family immigrated to Gasport, New York where he attended Royalton-Hartland High School. After high school he served in the Army from 1955 to 1958 with the 10th Mountain Division. He earned a B.A. at the University of Buffalo, an M.S. from the University of Alaska, and a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Idaho. His area of expertise was mineralogy and petrology.

Donald began working at NASA-Johnson Space Center in 1967 at the time of the Apollo program. He was involved with astronaut training and analysis of lunar samples. While working for the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, Donald met his wife of 52 years, Ruth Ann Clark. He served as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Clear Lake from 1990 to 1992. He continued doing research in planetology and terrestrial geology and worked on the “return to the moon initiative” until he retired in 1999. After moving to Highland Village to be closer to his grandchildren, Donald joined the Elm Fork Chapter of Master Naturalists.

He is survived by his wife, two sons, Allen Clark Morrison of Little Elm, Texas, and his three children, Isaac, Morgan, and Elliott; and Brian John Morrison and wife Christy of Chicago, Illinois, and his three children, Thomas, Nicholas, and Charlotte. He is survived also by his brother Robert I. Morrison and wife Sylvia of Savannah, Georgia, sister-inlaw Shelley M. Kemnitz and her husband Keith, plus many nieces and nephews. Donald was preceded in death by two brothers, Gerald Lennox Morrison and John Peter Morrison.

There is no service planned at this time. A memorial service and internment will be later in Ontario, Canada. Mulkey-Mason Funeral Home is helping with arrangements.