Tammy Martin was good friends with Thelma. When Thelma would give one of her many library tours to new Kendal residents she would stop by and intoduce them to the technical services crew. Thelma was a huge supporter of Oberlin College Libraries. She will be missed.
This was posted on FB last night. Tammy forwarded this to me.
The whole post from brother Phil Morris.
2023 has been an unusually stressful year for us:
On April 1, 2023, my sister Marcia Johnston passed. She had been in declining health for several years. She was 87.
On May 11, 2023, my sister Thelma Morris passed. She had recently moved from her cottage at Kendal at Oberlin retirement community to assisted living.
Marcia Louise Morris Johnston, 87 years old of Arlington, passed away peacefully on April 1, 2023. Beloved wife for nearly 59 years to John A. Johnston. Loving mother to Drs. Lynn Johnston Zeidan and her husband, Boutros of Johnstown, PA and Leslie Johnston of Alta Loma, CA. Dear grandmother to Moses and Daniel Zeidan. Sister to Thelma Morris of Oberlin, OH and Phil Morris and his wife Karen of High Point, NC. Marcia was born in Hamden, CT and raised in New Haven, CT to the late Raymond and Jean (Kelly) Morris. Graduate of James Hillhouse HS, New Haven 1953. Alum of Douglass College of Rutgers University and Katherine Gibbs School, Boston. In 1990 she was one of two recipients of the prestigious John S. Perkins Award for distinguished service to Boston University, where she was a secretary in the Department of Psychology until her retirement in 2003. Her kind and welcoming presence will be sorely missed. . . . Donations in Marcia’s name may be made to the American Diabetes Association . . . or to the Metropolitan Opera on-line . . .
Thelma J. Morris, 90, of Oberlin, Ohio died May 11, 2023, at Kendal at Oberlin. She was born June 4, 1932, in Evanston, IL to Raymond Philip Morris and Jean Louise Kelly. Shortly after she was born, the family moved to New Haven, CT where she was a graduate of Hillhouse High School. Thelma was a 1954 graduate of Oberlin College and received a MS in Library Science from Simmons College, Boston in 1956. After college, she was employed in the reference department of the Harvard Business School Library. She worked as assistant librarian of the University of Washington Business School in Seattle which coincided with the Seattle World’s Fair where she worked in the library exhibit, featuring early use of computer technology for library applications. She also spent a year in the research library of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. In 1964, she joined the Cleveland Public Library where she worked in the Social Sciences department for over 29 years. In 1978 she became department head and retired in 1993. Thelma was a member of the Case Western Reserve University’s department of continuing education’s poetry workshop for many years and was a published poet and an avid essayist. Extensive travel took her to Iran, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, France, Italy, England and elsewhere in Europe and the United States. Writing, reading, music, theater and art were long-term avocations. She was an early supporter of the Cleveland Opera as well as Lyric Opera Cleveland. Thelma moved from Shaker Heights to Kendal at Oberlin in 2005. At Kendal, she was active in Publicity Plugs, a group dedicated to writing news articles for the city schools, a member of the EUREKA literary magazine, various other committees and wrote book reviews for the Kendal newsletter. She was a member of First Church in Oberlin and a volunteer at Hospice of the Western Reserve, where she visited patients and edited the Bereavement Center’s newsletter. Thelma is survived by a brother, R. Philip (Karen) Morris of High Point, NC; nieces, Dr. Lynn C. Zeidan (Boutros) of Johnstown, PA and Leslie E. Johnston of Alta Loma, CA and two grand-nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and a sister, Marcia Johnston. A memorial service at Kendal will take place at a later date. Burial will be in Garnett Cemetery, Garnett, KS.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Oberlin College Library or the Cleveland Public Library.
Ken… the rest of that thought… Kendal resident and OCL advocate!
I am so sorry to learn this. Thelma was a delightful person – I loved when she showed up in the science library with a new Kendal resident in tow. I did not realize what an experienced traveler she was!
Thelma was the best. I think she stopped by on my first day here. When I treated her like library royalty because of her father, the great Raymond Morris, our friendship was sealed. We will all miss her.