Many in Milford School District may not realize that the Evelyn I. Morris Early Childhood Center in Lincoln is named for a teacher who taught in the school for 51 years. Morris died at the age of 85 in 1984.
Born Evelyn P. Isaacs on December 29,1898, she was the daughter of Avery Wesley and Nancy Adeline Short Isaacs. Morris was the fifth of eight children which included Marion Zeparah, Mahala Savilla, Lovey Ann, Minos Wingate, Lester Short, Roy Franklin and Roland David.
Morris graduated as valedictorian of her class in 1916 from Greenwood High School. At the time, it was possible to become a teacher simply by taking a test that certified them for five years, and that was how Morris’ teaching career began. Eventually, Morris returned to school, receiving her bachelor’s and Master of Education degree from the University of Delaware. She took post-graduate classes at Columbia University in New York as well.
At Columbia, she studied under Dr. Roma Gans, a remedial reader expert, in order to learn better ways to help students struggling with reading.
She began teaching at the Ocean View School in 1915 at the age of 17, a position that paid her $40 per month. During her tenure at the school, where she taught third and fourth grade, Morris was a boarder in a home owned by Anna Waples, paying $3 a week which covered board and laundry services.
Morris left Ocean View and took a position at the Fisher School near Greenwood, a one-teacher school. Morris taught 60 students in eight grades, earning a salary of $75 per month. A year later, she switched to Prime Hook Elementary School, where she boarded at the home of John Argo at Sugar Hill.
Interviewed by Elaine Dickerson in 1978, Morris stated that she remembered walking the ditch bank to school in winter weather when the roads were so bad even the horses could not safely travel them. Many times, the roads were full of ruts, causing Morris and the children to make their way to school together. Thomas R. Wilson began serving hot lunches for the children so they would not have to travel the roads during the winter.
After a few years in Prime Hook, Morris transferred to the village of Bethel before coming back to Prime Hook. She then took a position at Cedar Grove Elementary School, near Milford.
On January 25, 1923, Morris married a Greenwood classmate, Virgil Morris, in Greenwood and their daughter, Eleanor was born August 27 1923 in Wilmington. Friends and family stated that Morris was devoted to her husband and daughter, taking a year off teaching to spend it with Eleanor.
Students remembered Morris as one who stressed self-discipline, and she was one of the first teachers to promote moveable furniture in classrooms. She tried many methods to encourage not only the students who excelled, but also those that struggled with their studies. She visited the home of every child I her class in order to learn anything she could to reach her students.
Morris was also known for using positive reinforcement when that was not a common concept in teaching. If a child missed eight questions on a test one day but only missed seven on the next test, she praised them for the improvement. Morris could also be found in the classroom on Saturday, preparing for the upcoming week.
Her daughter, Eleanor, who married John Burton Donovan, followed her mother into the teaching profession. Donovan was named Milford Teacher of the Year in 1978 while teaching at the Lulu Ross Elementary School. Morris’ only granddaughter, Cynthia Donovan Highfield, was the third generation to enter the profession, teaching at Stanton School District.
A plaque in the main hallway of the school revealed in 1972 has her portrait with a plaque that read “Many are so glad you came their way.”
In addition to teaching in public school, Morris was a Sunday School teacher for 20 years at the Lincoln United Methodist Church. After teaching Sunday School, she would spend afternoons grading papers or planning lessons.
After retirement in 1967, Morris moved to the home owned by her daughter and son-in-law on South Washington Street. She died of a stroke in 1984.
