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Margaret D. (Blair) Morris
Margaret D. (Blair) Morris of Newburyport, formerly
Washingtonville, NY, died Thursday, July 16, 2020. She was the wife
of the late Arthur F. Morris, who died in 2006.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1928, she lived in
Edinburgh and Fort William before coming to the US as a child with her
parents Bill and Iris (Scott) Blair. When her parents came to the US, they
were heading for CA but they ended up staying in Brooklyn, NY.
Margaret Blair and Arthur Morris met in Brooklyn –
they lived in the same Park Slope neighborhood, went to the same high
school and the same church, Memorial Baptist Church. When Arthur returned
from the Pacific where he served in the Navy during WWII, he and Margaret
started dating and married in 1951. In 1960 they moved north to the
Hudson Valley area where they raised their three children, Doreen, Keith
and William (Billy). Margaret was a volunteer at the Taft Elementary
School, a Sunday School teacher, a member of the ladies’ auxiliary of the
Washingtonville fire department, and a member of FISH (Friends in Service
Here).
Margaret will be especially remembered as a loving
and devoted wife caring for her husband during his long illness with
Parkinson’s Disease and a wonderful and always present mother. She
was kind and gracious to everyone, a gifted listener, insightful and
compassionate. She was witty, easy-going and always cheerful, to the
moment of death. She had an eye for fashion and design, loved bright
colors, and loved to shop. Always seeming a decade-or-two younger than her
age, she preferred the youth-oriented services at church over the ones
designed for older congregants. She had a teenager’s joy and the wit and
wisdom of age.
At 83 years old, she visited Scotland for the first
time since she was a child. She reconnected with family in Edinburgh
and Fort William where she is known as “Margie Daw.” A highpoint was
staying in her grandmother’s house in Fort William, which is now a B&B,
and dining with her cousin who was in full Highland dress. She wouldn’t
try the haggis.
Margaret is survived by her children, Doreen and
her husband Bert Hodges of Ipswich, Keith and his wife Shelly of Jupiter,
FL, and Bill of Fayetteville, NC. Also surviving are her brothers,
William K. Blair of VA, Gordon M. Blair of CO, her sisters Jean Taylor,
Heather Buchanan, and June Kinsley of AZ, her grandchildren Kelly and
Michael of FL, Ryan of CA and Jeremy of NY, as well as nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by her brother, Douglas M. Blair, and her grandson,
Keith A. Morris.
There will be a family graveside service on Friday,
July 24 and a memorial gathering next year after the pandemic. In lieu of
flowers, gifts may be made to the Salvation Army, www.salvationarmyusa.org
one of Margaret’s favorite charities. Arrangements by the Whittier-Porter
Funeral Home of Ipswich.
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