24 May 2006

Longwood’s first master’s degree graduate honored at commencement

Mrs. Louise Clifton Walton Morris (left) was recognized as the first graduate to receive a master's degree from Longwood in 1956. Mrs. Morris was an honored guest at a reception held for the 164 master's graduates in the Class of 2006. Graduates were given a special medallion commemorating he 50th anniversary of graduate studies at Longwood by Dean Sue McCullough (right). Mrs. Morris was an elementary teacher in the Lynchburg and Hampton schools for nearly 30 years and currently resides in Hampton, VA.

Louise Walton Morris, Longwood University’s first master’s degree graduate, was honored recently during commencement.

Morris, a retired teacher who taught in Lynchburg, Newport News and Hampton, earned an M.S. in education at Longwood in 1956, two years after the State Board of Education authorized a graduate program here.

In the commencement ceremony May 13, her 79th birthday, Morris stood after her name was announced by Dr. Sue McCullough, dean of graduate studies. Afterward, she was the guest of honor at a reception hosted by graduate studies. Morris and all 164 master’s graduates were given a special medallion commemorating the 50th anniversary of graduate studies at Longwood.

Morris was teaching 3rd grade at Thomas C. Miller Elementary School in Lynchburg when she earned her master’s. She took the classes at nights, on weekends and during summers. She was handed her diploma by Longwood’s president, Dr. Francis G. Lankford Jr., in a commencement ceremony Aug. 11, 1956.

An Appomattox native who graduated from Lynchburg College in 1947, Morris taught in Lynchburg for 13 years before moving to Hampton in 1960 when her husband got a job in the area. She taught in Hampton for two years, then taught in Newport News from 1962 until retiring in 1974 when she became legally blind. She taught at Denbigh Elementary for two years and at Sedgefield Elementary the last 10 years.

She is a widow (her husband, Edward Morris, died in 1995) with three children. She was accompanied at graduation by her daughter, son-in-law and grandson, Becky, Gary and Sammy Krimstein of North Potomac, Md.; and a niece and great-nephew, Harriette Beasley and Kemper Beasley of Dillwyn.