Marie Morrison '06 (in memory of)
Marie Morrison ’06 Scholarship
The Marie Morrison ’06 Scholarship was established in memory of Marie Morrison by her daughter Meghan, along with other friends and family. Marie was an active community volunteer who returned to college at age 75.
Impact
Born in 1928, Marie grew up in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood during the Great Depression, where she and her three brothers and a younger sister were raised by their mother alone, a single parent without resources. Marie always said that during those difficult years, the treasures she discovered in the New York City Public Library saved her by opening new vistas. It was the beginning of a lifelong love affair with libraries and books.
Upon graduating from high school in 1946, during which time she worked after school to help support her family, Marie was offered a college scholarship due to being such a good student. However, she was forced by family circumstances to continue working instead and gave up her scholarship. There were many times she was heard to say she regretted not taking that scholarship and aspired to get her college degree one day.
In 1976, after raising four children, Marie volunteered at Environmental Advocates in Albany (aka Environmental Planning Lobby). She was soon hired by Bronx Assemblyman Oliver Koppell, then chairman of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee, for whom she worked as executive assistant and senior staff member for the next 20 years as he became, successively, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Corporations, Public Authorities and Commissions, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and then, in 1994-1995, attorney general.
From 1967 to 1986, Marie and her family lived in Clifton Park, where she was one of the five Charter founders of the Shenendehowa Free Library (now the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library) and its fourth president. She enjoyed telling the story of how the library started on the second floor of the bank building at the Rte. 9 and Rte. 146 intersection with the mere outline, in chalk, of where the shelves would be placed, and then grew at various sites, culminating in the current $15 million building on Moe Road. She obtained a $5,000 donation from developer Robert Van Patten for the fledgling library. That and her continuing stream of publicity helped bring the library to life, for which she was presented, in Detroit, with the H. W. Wilson-American Library Association’s National Award for the Best Public Relations campaign for a Small New Library. She was also a founding member and a board member of the League of Women Voters of Clifton Park.
Always an avid reader and believer in life-long learning, Marie periodically took classes at SUNY Albany in journalism and audited courses at Skidmore College in art history. Marie finally resumed her formal education in her mid-70s. In 2006, at age 77, cheered by her proud family and friends, she received her bachelor’s degree in political science from Empire State University.
Marie was a reminder to everyone around her that it is never too late to accomplish a dream and to do what you love. There is nothing that would make her happier than to know she was able to inspire and support someone else in doing the same.