Mrs. Virginia Hall Morris

Virginia Hall Morris departed this life on 22 July 2011, following a gradual decline in her physical health over the past several years. She was married to the late William C. Morris Jr., an Asheville attorney, who died in 2008. A long-time member of St. Mary's Episcopal Church and, prior to that, Trinity Episcopal Church, Mrs. Morris was the Sacristan at St. Mary’s and member of the Altar Guild of both churches for many years. She was born in Savannah, Georgia, and lived until age 14 on Whitemarsh Island, just east of Savannah. Her parents were Addison Hall and Laura Walley Hall. They owned and operated a camera shop on Bull Street in Savannah in 1930s and ‘40s. When she was eight years of age, she sat for her formal portrait by the renowned portrait artist Albert Salzbrenner, and thus began her life long passion for portrait painting, as she reported in an interview for the resident newspaper at Ardenwoods’ Heather Glen in 2009. Upon her father's death in 1943, she and her mother moved from Savannah to Brevard, NC, where they visited in the summers as a family. Virginia Morris attended Brevard College and later UNC-Asheville, where she studied art history and painting She and Bill Morris, a Brevard native, were married at St. Phillips Episcopal Church in Brevard in 1947 after he was discharged from the US Navy following WWII. After their marriage, they moved to Chapel Hill, so that he could complete his undergraduate studies and immediately begin his legal education at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Their first child, Rebecca Addison Morris, was born in November of 1948. Following Mr. Morris’ graduation from law school and admission to the NC State Bar in 1952, they moved to Asheville, where Mr. Morris practiced law for more than 50 years. Their second child, a son, William C. Morris III, was born in Asheville in 1954. Over the next several years, four infant children were born to the couple and died shortly after their births. The various portraits she composed of her family are treasures to her children and grandchild and an enduring testament to her unique talent. In the 1960s she was active in The Junior Woman’s Civic Club of Asheville and the Jaycettes (an auxiliary to the Junior Chamber of Commerce) serving as its president. She also served as president of Newton Elementary School (formerly Historic Newton Academy) Parent/Teacher Association. She was also predeceased by her late husband’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. William C. Morris Sr. of Brevard and by two half-brothers, Lt. Col. Wright Wiley Diamond (USAF) and William Dossett Diamond, MD. who lived in Mississippi at the time of their deaths and in December of 2010 her son-in-law Donald E. Pullease, died following a brief illness after he and his wife, ‘Becca Morris Pullease relocated to Asheville after 28 years in Los Angeles, CA. Her son, Will Morris lives in Brevard. She is also survived by her granddaughter, Laura Anne Morris, 21, who is a senior at NC State University in Raleigh, and by a daughter-in-law, Drew Deane, of Brevard and a step-granddaughter, Ali Deane, 15, of the home. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations in her memory be directed to the Capital Campaign for St. Mary’s Parish, 30 Macon Ave., No. 2, Asheville, NC 28801. A Requiem Mass in loving memory of Virginia Morris will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 17, 2011, at St. Mary’s Church located at 337 Charlotte Street in Asheville. A reception in celebration of her life will be held afterwards in the Parish Hall, immediately following the interment of ashes in Wayside Shrine on the grounds of St. Mary’s Church.

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Mrs. Virginia Hall Morris

July 22, 2011