n e w c h u r c h l i f e : j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 4
going out of the house Morna wrote that
her mother said “not to get killed unless we
could do some good by it.” This concept of
being of use and the usefulness of things
was important to her. Concerning many
natural objects she had a sense that whoever
was going to use something should have it.
After graduating from high school in
1936 Morna went on to a four-year degree
program at the Academy of the New
Church College, now Bryn Athyn College.
The only education training available was
for teaching at the elementary level. As she
progressed toward graduation she realized
she would be the only graduating senior
that spring. She talked to all the powersthat-be about graduating with the two-year
students – significantly to avoid having to
give the valedictory, but to no avail. She did
give a valedictory talk – a copy of it exists
today, typed on little more than one side of
a three-by-five card.
For the 1940-41 school year, as a new
college graduate, Morna taught second
grade and had her youngest sister, Nina,
as one of her pupils. Apparently one day at school Nina wanted to sit next
to Morna. A classmate asserted that Morna lived at her home and she could
always sit next to her, but Nina said that Morna was almost never home.
Morna found this a hard year, with daily opening worship and all the
other classes to prepare, and one troublesome boy in particular who needed
to be disciplined every day. She wished she had had more practice teaching, or
that she had taken advantage of talking to e