Posted on 05/02/2004 11:34:40 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Family rich with history Marirose Morris married the boy next door - but she had to move to Seattle to do it
By Ilene Olson rep3@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE - Dotted with names like Smoke, Her Many Horses, Lone Wolf, Bear Lays Down, Princess Blue Water and fur trader Joseph Bissonette, Marirose Morris' family tree is not the typical genealogical chart. It is a page seemingly torn from the history of the American frontier.
Much of that history, dating back to the early 1800s, centers here in Wyoming, despite the fact that Morris grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
Bissonette, her great-grandfather, was a fur trader at Fort Laramie from 1857-66. Her grandmother, Julia, was one of seven children born to Bissonette and one of his wives, an unnamed Oglala Lakota woman.
Julia married Joseph C. Ecoffey, who had a ranch on a creek near Beaver Rim in Fremont County and ran a store at the Platte River bridge at Fort Casper in 1862. He later sold the Beaver Creek ranch and bought one that now is part of the present town site of Lander. He also had a ranch in Johnson County.
Another great-grandfather, Smoke, was a chief of the Bad Face Band of Oglala Lakota who died near Fort Laramie in 1864.
But Morris has a personal history in Cheyenne as well. As a teenager, she accompanied her grandmother, Princess Blue Water, to Cheyenne Frontier Days for several years to perform with a group of American Indian dancers. Princess Blue Water has since been inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame.
"How well I remember those booster trips. I loved them," Morris said.
Those were tours throughout the Front Range area during which the dancers traveled by bus and performed for local crowds. That was done as a form of advertising for Cheyenne Frontier Days, she said.
Years later, when Morris learned her husband's job required their family to move to Cheyenne in 1975, she was thrilled.
"It was like moving to paradise," she said. "I've enjoyed living here ever since. The more I'm here, the more I find I have history here."
Each time she traveled and saw the land open in a panoramic view before her at Beaver Rim, "My soul would sing," she said. "When I realized my grandfather was raised there, I thought, 'Of course, a quarter of me recognizes this.'"
Morris surrounds herself with reminders of her American Indian heritage, such as the buckskin dress she wore at the age of 5 or 6 when her family filled in as extras in the movie "Across the Wide Missouri," which starred Clark Gable and Ricardo Montalban. She treasures intricate beadwork on moccasins, shirts and jewelry crafted by her grandmothers, as well as other works of art, such as a modern print with an American Indian theme painted by a relative.
With obvious pride, Morris carefully holds up delicate pieces of jewelry made years ago by loving hands from beads and dyed porcupine quills. The colorful display on her kitchen table is echoed by the excitement and reverence in her eyes.
Art, whether American Indian or modern, is something Morris treasures. Consequently, she considers her job as an arts specialist with the Wyoming Arts Council "the best job in the world."
While she boasts of the work of other artists, few people realize she is an artist in her own right.
Morris' longtime friend, Ann Redman of Cheyenne, recalled admiring a painting in the Morris home. It was only then that she realized Morris had painted it.
"She just doesn't share that," Redman said. "She's a very humble person."
While she is immensely proud of her heritage, Morris said it doesn't come without stereotypes.
For example, she recalled the time when a University of Wyoming student interviewed her for an assignment. Marirose Morris fit the criteria of having grown up on a reservation. Later, the student asked her to recommend someone else instead.
"She said I didn't fit what the professor expected," Morris said. "The impression I got was, I was too successful."
Growing up on a reservation, Morris said she saw firsthand some of the social problems American Indians face, particularly with alcohol. Her own father was an alcoholic, and her mother divorced him after 10 years.
Morris said her mother kept her too busy to get into trouble.
"My mother was very protective," she said. "She just was a tremendously organized woman. Even during my first year of college, she had me on a 9 o'clock curfew.
"She was a black-and-white person. What you did was right, or it was wrong. She didn't accept excuses."
Morris was an avid reader, which helped her stay out of trouble as well. In addition, "I was very social," she said. "People in town thought they owned me. They watched out for me."
Still, "we all didn't escape it. A couple of my siblings were alcoholics," though one has been in recovery for several years.
Morris graduated as valedictorian of her class and attended college in Seattle on a full scholarship while working as a nanny for a family there.
One morning, she noticed a young man running out of the house next door at the same time she was leaving for her class. She was nearly late, so she cut across several yards on her way to catch the bus.
"He was more polite than I was," she said with a chuckle. "He went around the yards and missed the bus. But I got a good look at him as the bus drove by."
She learned his name was Bob Morris, and he was studying at Seattle University as well. While she was interested, "I didn't date for my first year. I wasn't sure what you did on a date. I knew what the white boys on the reservation wanted, and I wanted nothing to do with that.
"He said when I turned 21 he'd take me out. I held him to it."
The couple married after they completed college.
"I went that far to marry the boy next door," she said with a chuckle.
The Morrises raised five children and kept them all busy while they were growing up. The children were expected to show up for family meals and had responsibilities at home and at school.
Their son, Dan Morris, an English teacher at Cheyenne's McCormick Junior High, recalled the emphasis his mother, who holds two bachelor's degrees, put on education.
"She always wanted us to be better than anybody could think we were," he said. "My parents encouraged us to participate in sports programs, clubs and Boy Scouts. We also were required to play a musical instrument, which we had to practice all the time. If you had some free time and didn't have a project, helping around the house was always an option.
"It would probably be honest to say my brothers and I stumbled here and there," Dan Morris added. "We made our share of mistakes, but my parents always stood by us.
"I probably remember most the look of hurt on my mom's face when I didn't meet her expectations. I didn't realize it then, but I realize how important it is to work hard, to set goals and to achieve them."
But growing up in the Morris family wasn't all work. There was time for fun too.
"We had a blast growing up," Dan Morris said. "We always had enough money, but we never had an excess. My parents took us places, and we saw stuff. We camped outside of cities, but we had more fun than we would have had in a big hotel.
"We traveled all over the western United States. We went to campgrounds and went fishing. It was a constant sense of adventure and learning. Even camping trips would turn into education trips. I think that was the best part of our growing up."
Marirose Morris' explanation: "I come from a group of adventurous people," she said. "I sometimes think it's in my blood."
Dan Morris said his mother also explored her American Indian heritage with her children, helping them to make it their own.
"My brothers and sisters and I grew up dancing at powwows, spent time on reservations, and were always involved in heritage and culture," he said. "I like to think that what I experienced as a kid, I pass on to my students as an adult."
By sharing his own heritage, Dan Morris said he encourages his students to value their own family histories and traditions.
Bob Morris said he admires his wife's strengths and abilities.
"She's raised five kids, and that says a lot," he said. "She's articulate and smart. She's a clear thinker.
"She's been a wonderful wife and mother." And, after 38 years of marriage, "I think she still loves me."
Redman said Marirose Morris has been the truest of friends.
"She has one of the biggest hearts. She's always available to listen to you, to help you. She's just been that kind of a friend to me."
But Marirose Morris said those things just come natural to her.
"I always thought that I was this kind of a serendipity person. Good things always happened for me.
"But my son said, 'No, Mom. You worked for everything you got.'"
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