Patricia (Garrigan) Morris

I started dating Richard Morris (THS ’56) in the spring of 1954.  We married in 1957.  We lived on Staten Island until May of 1958 when he entered the U. S. Army.  After he finished basic training I moved with him to a little town named Prince George Courthouse outside of Fort Lee, Virginia.  This little ‘town’ contained four buildings but was considered a town because one of those buildings was a post office.  From there we migrated to Fort Benjamin Harrison outside of Indianapolis, Indiana, before finally ending in San Francisco, California where he was stationed at the Presidio.  All this moving in less than two years of married life.  I thought we would be settled for a little while, but surprise!... after only eight months, he was reassigned.  We were going to France!

Our adventures were to continue while he pursued a twenty-year career in the U. S. Army.  We spent time in all but  five of the United States and lived for three years in France and six years in Germany.  When Richard retired from the Army, we moved to Texas with our four children.  We thought we would be content with being in one place, but after a few years, the desire to see past our present horizon hit us both, and we bought a motor home.  From then on, weekends and vacations were spent in ‘hitting the road’ to ‘see what we could see’. 

His journey ended in October of 2006 after a 10 year struggle with cancer.  I presently live with my oldest daughter who is also my dearest friend.  My other daughter and two sons live in the surrounding communities, as do our four grandchildren.  Although surrounded by my loving family, I miss my ‘traveling companion’ of the past fifty years.  Since we can no longer travel the road together, I do my traveling in my memories and am writing a book about our many adventures.