Leonard Morse's Obituary
CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF LEONARD FRANCIS MORSE, JR.
(U.S. Army LTC, retired)
Leonard Francis Morse, Jr. was born on May 21, 1928 in Mobile, Alabama. He is the first son, second of five children, born to Rev. Leonard F. Morse, Sr. and Gertrude Frances Robinson Goldsmith Morse. When Leonard (called "Junior" by his siblings) was about 4 years old, the family moved to Jacksonville, FL where his father answered a call to pastor a new church, with his loving and anointed wife by his side assisting him by administering to the needs of her husband's congregation as pianist, church organist, soloist and teacher with the kindergarten school, among other duties. Since Leonard is a preacher's kid, he followed his parents and accepted the Lord as his Savior at an early age.
Leonard attended Howard University in his freshman year-¦ {his father's alma mater, who graduated in 1915-¦ the
first person to graduate in three years with double degrees.} With a strong desire to complete and pay for his education, Leonard joined the U.S. Army in 1947 at age 19. In later years, while serving in the military, he earned a B.S. in mathematics and engineering from the University of Omaha. In 1948, Leonard was a lanky 6', 2- GI private stationed at Ft. Belvoire, VA, when he met a pretty 5', 2- career woman from Steubenville, OH, Georgia Adams, who worked at the Veterans Administration in the nation's Capitol. They courted for two years and married on Jan. 31, 1950. Later that evening, the newlyweds celebrated their first outing as marrieds and were entertained by a new sensational singer, Etta James.
Leonard and Georgia spent only 3 days together as husband and wife before he left to answer orders for the Korean War, where he sustained a severe injury in his left foot and received a Purple Heart. Upon returning from Korea, 22 months had passed since he last saw his bride. During those long months of separation from her husband, Georgia lived with her new parents-in-love (as Georgia says) and Leonard's youngest brother, Decatur, in Jacksonville, FL. Georgia tells this story by saying, -Å"When Leonard returned after so many months apart, he was like a stranger to me-¦ I didn't know whether to kiss him, or shake his hand!- Undoubtedly, he felt the same way.
Leonard and Georgia became the proud parents of their first child, Linda Anne, born in Steubenville, OH (delivered by the same small-town doctor who delivered Georgia) in July 1953. New mom and baby joined Leonard in Mannheim, Germany in Dec. of that year, when he saw his nearly 5-mo. old daughter for the first time and spent the first wonderful Christmas, of many to come, together as a family. Ten years went by fast... so Leonard and Georgia decided that he would continue to serve in the military for another ten years and retire.
In the last year of his assignment in Neu Ulm, Germany, Leonard, Georgia and new big Sister welcomed a new member to the family in Jan. 1965-¦ a beautiful, adorable 18-month old toddler named Gregory. The family of four returned to the U.S. that summer to Leonard's final military assignment in Ft. Lewis, WA. Gregory became a naturalized citizen the following year in a courthouse ceremony in downtown Tacoma.
Leonard served tours of duty in: Ft. Belvoire, VA; Ft. Sill - Lawton, OK (twice); Korea (twice); Japan; Germany (twice); Andrews AFB, NJ; and Fort Lewis, WA (now JBLM), where Leonard retired in spring 1970. His assignments served in Korea and Japan were "hardship" tours, without family.
Leonard, Georgia and Linda traveled the world during his more than two decades in the Army. During his two tours in Germany, the family visited Holland, France, Spain and enjoyed staying in various lovely, historic cities in West Germany, including a special trip to Oberammergau, Bavaria-¦ where the world-renown Passion Play is traditionally performed every ten years, since 1634. While living in Oklahoma, Leonard, Georgia and Linda enjoyed a fun-filled summer vacation in beautiful Monterrey, Mexico.
After Leonard retired from the Army with 23½ meritorious years of service, he continued to pursue his passion for learning and furthered his education by receiving an MBA from City University of Seattle in the summer of 1980.
His second career was spent serving as an IT Manager in the Office of Information Services for Washington State Employment Security in Olympia, WA, where he retired after 15 years. Leonard's third, and final, career was with the Tacoma Police Department, reporting to the Chief of Police. Leonard was the first African-American to hold a
prominent management position with TPD, serving for nearly six years. He also taught computer science and mathematics at local community colleges for several years, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Leonard's favorite past time is listening to his vast collection of music... playing jazz, gospel, classical, R&B or big band standards on his latest state-of-the art stereo equipment in the family den... later known as his "man cave"... with the volume sometimes on the loud side (if you ask Georgia!) Leonard was always a camera buff and was the family photographer through the years. He also enjoys reading, working on his computer and watching sports on TV, including some of the TV judge programs.
Len was also a basketball and football athlete in high school and college and also enjoys watching NBA games (especially the former Seattle Super Sonics and Los Angeles Lakers), is an NFL fan, culminating with great anticipation for Super Bowl Sunday every year (which falls on or around his and Georgia's anniversary) and several other sports. He was also a good bowler and tennis player, and enjoyed bicycling with the family on weekends when Linda and Greg were children. Leonard always liked to dance and embraced ballroom dancing in the -Ëœ80's, winning several ballroom competition awards in the local Tacoma area. Yes-¦-Å"Dancing with the Stars- is one of his favorite TV shows!
Since his teen years, Leonard has been a thoughtful, caring and generous son, brother, husband, father and friend. He remembers and acknowledges family birthdays, Easter and Christmas holidays, and never forgot his and Georgia's anniversary-¦ not once-¦ always presenting her with a beautiful card, flowers and more. He also loves to tell jokes and riddles. Through the years, Leonard has had a good eye for fashion-¦ and was a snappy dresser, too!
Due to diabetes and an old combat injury, half of his left heel was surgically removed in Feb. 2011. Leonard was making great improvement with his daily rehab PT and OT sessions over five months since his surgery, and it looked like he was coming home in early August. Sadly, on August 1, 2011, Leonard suffered a stroke, which was later diagnosed as an early stage of Parkinson's disease. His health has greatly declined since then. Leonard resides and continues to receive excellent care in the private adult assisted-living home of Gladys Dinglason, RN, since late March 2012.
He is preceded in death by his beloved parents, older sister Mary Helen Robinson, MD and younger sister Dorothy (Dot) Gertrude Cornelia Brown. Leonard's family... loving, devoted wife of nearly 63 years, Georgia Adams Morse, daughter Linda Anne (Joe), son Leonard Gregory (Mari), younger brother Frederick Goldsmith Morse (Jacksonville, FL), youngest brother Decatur Ward Morse, Sr. (Esther) U.S. Army Colonel, retired (Springfield, VA) and sister-in-law Lillian Adams Sims (Rosamond, CA), along with many loving nieces and nephews, deeply thank and appreciate everyone for joining us in celebrating Leonard's accomplished and wonderful life.
Arrangements y Mountain View Funeral Home.
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