Martha Belle Cunningham Morris' Obituary
MORRIS, MARTHA BELLE CUNNINGHAM passed away on August 14, 2014 at the age of 96. Martha’s life exemplified the exciting times for women who were born in this country shortly after the end of World War I. She was born on October 9, 1917 to Calvin Cecil (“Cab”) Cunningham and Roxie Waggoner Cunningham and raised on their farm near Era in Cooke County, Texas. Martha’s fondest memories were of that life when almost everything they needed to thrive was raised on their farm. Her older sister, Pauline, was born 10 years earlier and her younger sister, Cecilia, was born a year after Martha. Martha and Cecelia were inseparable when young and remained extremely close throughout their lives. Their early lives centered on the farm and the Church of Christ, where Cab was a deacon and Roxie cooked for families in need. The girls gave musical performances for all community events, with Martha on violin and Cecelia on piano. The family left Era with its one-room school house and moved to Denton, Texas when Martha and Cecilia were in 6th grade. The girls attended and graduated from the North Texas Demonstration School. Martha received her B.A. from North Texas State Teachers College in 1939 with a double major in Speech and Art. After graduation, she left home to work as an art instructor in Kingsville and Corpus Christi. While living in South Texas she met Joseph Earl (JoEarl) Morris, a young man from Arkansas who was managing the Emsco Oilfield Equipment Company store in Freer. Shortly after their meeting, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and everything changed. JoEarl and Martha corresponded throughout the war, while he was serving as Lead Navigator/Bombardier for a B24 unit, the 392d Bombardment Group, 14th Combat Wing of the 2nd Air Division stationed in Kings Lynn, England. After 25 missions over Europe, JoEarl returned to Texas, they married in 1945, and lived for four years in Midland where Martha applied her artistic talents to oilfield maps for Atlantic Richfield and JoEarl supplied oil-field products to the west Texas fields. They returned to Dallas in 1949, where Bradford was born in January of 1950, followed by Alan in 1953. Their adventure together took a great leap when JoEarl was assigned to help meet the oilfield equipment needs in South America for Continental-Emsco Company. Moving to Caracas, Venezuela in 1957 was a huge adventure for the family. At that time, Caracas was a beautiful cosmopolitan city populated by recent immigrants from all over Europe and America. Martha enjoyed raising the boys there, as well as teaching art while JoEarl travelled throughout South America for work. In 1965, after 7 1 1/2 memorable years in Caracas and an advancement waiting for JoEarl in Dallas, the family returned to Dallas. Martha discovered the reward of teaching children who struggled with reading due to dyslexia after training at the Scottish Rite Hospital’s Certified Language Therapist Training Program, devoting 25 years to working with children in her home, and later in her small classroom at the St. Alcuin School, helping them become successful readers. She found her work to be immensely rewarding and over the years many children reached out to Martha to let her know of their academic success, which her patience and skill had made possible. After JoEarl retired, they sold their Dallas home and moved to Sun City near Georgetown, enjoying the hill country together until JoEarl’s death in 2004. A year later, Martha moved to Treemont Retirement Center in Houston to be near Brad and his wife Marilyn Jones, with regular visits from Alan, who lived in Salt Lake City, and her four grandchildren. Martha was preceded in death by her son, Alan Calvin Morris, in 2010, her husband JoEarl, and her sisters Pauline C. Marrs of Krum, Texas and Cecelia C. Box of Grapevine, Texas. She is survived by Brad and Marilyn, their sons Calvin B. Morris and Christopher J. Morris; her daughter-in-law Julie Roberts and Julie and Alan’s children, Hannah G. Morris and Samuel J. Morris. Services will be private.
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