Her dedication to a
life of useful service,
and particularly
to the uses of New
Church education,
has influenced many
lives for good, and
through them, still
countless others.
its emphasis on a loving God. She didn’t
remember ever having gone through a
seriously negative period, partially, she
said, because, “My father believed in the
New Church and he was a down-to-earth,
sensible person.”
Morna said that school work, starting
in elementary school, came so easily for
her that it took her a long time to realize
that some things, like playing the piano
or learning how to dive into a pond,
took effort and attention to achieve. She
remembers younger siblings learning how
to skate backwards with grace, but over
and over again other people’s explanation
of how to do it didn’t work for her.
As an upper elementary school student Morna had a fond imagination
that she would someday be a farmer’s wife. She was given an alternative idea
as an eighth-grader after she made some comment in class and the teacher
said to her, “You’re going to be a teacher.” While Morna was pleased with this
personally, socially it made her uncomfortable at that age because she had the
impression that teachers were “stuffy” and “goodie-goods.” Obviously her later
life was not ruled by this concern.
As a high school student she had a clear sense that at least one of the
teachers thought that “girls should learn how” and “boys should learn why.”
She didn’t accept this idea. Her math skills were evidently strong enough that
she spent her sophomore year of math working on her own. Apparently a
number of the girls in her class knew her capability and regularly phoned her
for help.
She decided to have a math club. Two of its rules were: “You had to try
all of the problems yourself before getting help,” and “Refreshments had to
be served.” In Morna’s day girls didn’t take math after sophomore year of
high school. Timid or not, Morna was the Factores (Girls School student
government) President her senior year.
When Morna was 17 she awoke one wintry night to the noise of sirens
because de Charms Hall, the elementary school building, was on fire. She
wrote up this experience at the time, stating that after initially being inclined
to go back to sleep, “All of a sudden it came over me like a dash of cold water.
That was our school burning! And here I had thought of going back to bed.
How lazy!”
She and a sister dressed and prepared to go see what was happening. On
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