2008 Woodie Awards
'A tolerant and loving individual'
Service to memorialize SIUE professor Friday
Holly Meyer
Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: News
Spanish professor Rick Morrison loved language.
Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, German, Latin and Japanese could come out of his mouth at any time.
"He ate languages," junior Alex Walk said.
Morrison was Walk's Spanish 102 and 201 professor. In the middle of class, Walk said Morrison would be speaking to his class and jump from one language to the next.
"He would be talking Spanish and then go into Russian or something," Walk said. "It was really cool."
After about 20 years of teaching at SIUE, Morrison passed away May 28 at the age of 65 of unknown causes.
A memorial service will take place in honor of Morrison at 1:30 p.m. Friday in the Religious Center. Everyone is welcome to attend and say a few words.
Morrison's niece, Jill Morey, will speak at the memorial service.
"I want to share with them how important he has been to my entire life," Morey said.
She remembers her uncle using his multilingual abilities when she was younger. As a "teeny tyke walking around on the farm," Morey said she and her younger relatives always thought it was odd when Morrison would say something in a language they could not understand. However, Morey said she became accustomed to her uncle's use of languages and he became her biggest influence for her own pursuit of foreign languages.
"I wouldn't be a foreign language teacher if it wasn't for my uncle Rick," Morey said.
Even though he could speak at least six languages, Morrison's knowledge was not restricted to language.
"Don't play a trivia game against him," Spanish professor Julian Bueno said jokingly.
Morrison earned his doctorate in Spanish from the University of Michigan.
Bueno said when either of them would travel to different countries they would bring back books to share with each other.
"It was kind of like having a younger brother," Bueno said.
Also speaking at the memorial service, Morrison's colleague and friend, Spanish professor Liz Fonseca, also remembered his intelligence.
Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, German, Latin and Japanese could come out of his mouth at any time.
"He ate languages," junior Alex Walk said.
Morrison was Walk's Spanish 102 and 201 professor. In the middle of class, Walk said Morrison would be speaking to his class and jump from one language to the next.
"He would be talking Spanish and then go into Russian or something," Walk said. "It was really cool."
After about 20 years of teaching at SIUE, Morrison passed away May 28 at the age of 65 of unknown causes.
A memorial service will take place in honor of Morrison at 1:30 p.m. Friday in the Religious Center. Everyone is welcome to attend and say a few words.
Morrison's niece, Jill Morey, will speak at the memorial service.
"I want to share with them how important he has been to my entire life," Morey said.
She remembers her uncle using his multilingual abilities when she was younger. As a "teeny tyke walking around on the farm," Morey said she and her younger relatives always thought it was odd when Morrison would say something in a language they could not understand. However, Morey said she became accustomed to her uncle's use of languages and he became her biggest influence for her own pursuit of foreign languages.
"I wouldn't be a foreign language teacher if it wasn't for my uncle Rick," Morey said.
Even though he could speak at least six languages, Morrison's knowledge was not restricted to language.
"Don't play a trivia game against him," Spanish professor Julian Bueno said jokingly.
Morrison earned his doctorate in Spanish from the University of Michigan.
Bueno said when either of them would travel to different countries they would bring back books to share with each other.
"It was kind of like having a younger brother," Bueno said.
Also speaking at the memorial service, Morrison's colleague and friend, Spanish professor Liz Fonseca, also remembered his intelligence.
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