Jane C. Morris - The Real Story of Dick and Jane

Copyright 2020 by F. R. Morris

Print Version: ISBN 978-1-09834-156-5

eBook Version: ISBN 978-1-0983721-2-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing of the copyright owner.

This book is produced in the United States of America

Cover design by Todd F. Morris

Editor: Alyssa J. Vorbeck

Front Cover photo: Easter 1953, Springfield, PA

Back Cover photo: August 2010, Oslo, Norway aboard sailing ship Johanna in Oslofjord

Table of Contents

It was a pleasure to work with my granddad to wrap up this memoir project. My dear Grandma Jane can only contribute at present via her previous writings, as explained further on in the narrative.

My fondness for history, books and stories made me especially invested. Allow me to introduce to you Dick and Jane Morris from a grandchilds point of view:

Grandma Jane was and always will be a teacher at heart; it was more than an occupation. When I spent a week every summer at Camp Grandma as a child, there was often an educational field trip involved: a tour of Gettysburg or through a working Amish farm, a shift at the Share and Care shop at Garden Spot Village where I was taught how to calculate sales tax, etc. Her bookshelf was always open for borrowing books; historical fiction was my personal favorite. Beginning with the details of her clothing, her outfits, everything in her life was well-structured and in the proper order (or it always seemed to me). There was never a mess in the house; every decoration was meticulously placed and appropriate for the season. As her grandchild, I was always expected to behave when in her care. She never made a fool of herself in any way. Thats not to say she doesnt have fun, oh no, I fondly remember the birthday party we threw for my stuffed cat when I discovered (or pretended) that it was its birthday. We used the good China teacups and created a new dessert with sweet things we found in the kitchen. We would put on fashion shows after any shopping trip (of which there were many), complete with an announcer and a grand entrance down the staircase.

However, at our seashore vacations, while my grandma was, for example, out past the breakers expertly floating in the ocean with her toes up, wearing her brightly flowered bathing cap, it was my granddad who was jumping in the waves, throwing balls, and building sandcastles with us. It was Granddad you could depend on to find (or make up) a game. Present him with any problem, and he is ready to find or to be the solution. He was always sacrificing his pride or his body for our benefit: he was the troll who lurked under the bridge during the game of Billy Goats Gruff; he was the one getting yelled at in the town pool for going down the water slide face first; he was the one with the sore posterior after being convinced to join me on a horseback ride; he was one risking his life to jump from the top of a ladder to the roof after a frisbee was lost up there.

One of the things he said to me when I was young that has stuck with me was after I commented on how beat up and used his Bible looked. I had tagged along on a Sunday visit to their Sunday School class, and he responded somewhat distractedly something to the effect of: They say: dirty Bible, clean Christian; clean Bible, dirty Christian. It was obviously not meant as a brag, but I try to remember to not take for granted the fact that when they took me to church with them, they were so clearly involved in whatever was going on at the time. Their actions revealed that they took their faith seriously. Reading through this narrative, it strikes me how many generations of this family have been blessed because of the first of our family lines who said yes to Jesus and passed it down to their children. Someday in Heaven, Ill thank them for that.

My granddad is also the family historian. As I grew up, he was always the one with the video camera, the keeper of the boxes and boxes of photographs and memorabilia. This is why is it is appropriate that he (with much input from Grandma Jane, of course) records this story.

There is an overwhelming amount of material left behind by my ancestors that resides in that office in New Holland, and my granddad has spent most of my lifetime at least trying to make sense of it all. With what follows, we have a small taste of the lives of those who came before us, and for those not fortunate enough to know Dick and Jane Morris while theyre on this earth, hopefully, this book will be a modest introduction to them.

For a very long time, we've thought about assembling our version of a comprehensive history for our families. Weve taken and/or collected thousands of pictures with all kinds of equipment. At this point, weve assembled many pages of text detailing our careers and adventures, those of our children and what we know of our ancestors. Both our fathers were experienced photographers; David on the Morris side, semi-professional. And it appears that neither he nor Raymond on the Switzer side ever discarded a good or a bad photo. We have inherited it all.

This assembly is not very well organized. Back in 2002, we were somehow able to publish the memoirs of Dicks mother, Helen Morris (aka Abretha Springtime). We even produced a sequel in 2007 as Helen, who was then in her nineties, continued to write her poetry and record her memories. Interested readers may check out A Breath of Springtime and More From the Heart. Those books were self-published through Xlibris of Philadelphia. We see our own affairs as a bigger challenge. There are at least four core families with which to deal Switzers, Morrises, Dempsters and Specketers. But now we plan to make a serious effort. This effort provides a little focus and higher purpose to daily activities. At this point, our children are well established and our grandchildren, regrettably, are no longer much in need of our expert services. At least, they dont think so. In fact, they are more often the experts in todays world.

But we do know a lot more about the family history than they do. This is highly interesting stuff (at least to us). If the Lord tells us one day Times up! we are thinking, well, if we havent organized all this cluttered mess, one of our heirs might come along, clean it up, and throw it out. And what a shame to spend eighty or ninety years on this planet and have our history forgotten! Much material is the stuff of verbal storytelling. As we planned this book, we reviewed other personal histories, and realized that we should lighten up. We take pride in integrity, but we are not trying to second-guess anyones recollections or be rigorous historians of fact. Were trying to preserve the memory and legacy of dozens of fallible, lovable (or not), always interesting human beings. Just like us.