Paula Elizabeth Morris

Paula Elizabeth Cargill Morris, 85, of Houston, Texas, passed away at home the evening of Thursday, December 20, 2018. A native Houstonian, Paula was born December 9, 1933, the only child of Grace Truman Higginbotham and Albert Ralph Cargill. She grew up in the East End of Houston and knew at an early age that she wanted to be a teacher when she was grown.

Paula graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School in 1951. A member and officer of the Sarah Lane Literary Society, she received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Rice University in 1955. Later that year she began her teaching career with the Houston Independent School District.

Paula married longtime beau David Gene Morris (whom she had met at the age of 10) on June 15, 1957. Taking time off occasionally to give birth and tend to her three daughters, she continued teaching in HISD at the elementary level. In 1985, with quite some foresight, she earned certification as a Teacher Technologist, learning programming and computing skills which she then passed on to students and other teachers. She retired from teaching in 1992, not exactly of her own wishes.

In 1991 she experienced aneurysms in both the right and left optic canals, damage from which resulted in a total of four craniotomies over a five-year period. Paula carried on like the Girl Scout she had long been, with patience and perseverance and good humor. Paula had the dubious distinction of having "the longest duration of recurrent symptoms from muslin-related optochiasmatic arachnoiditis in the English language ophthalmic literature."* In the following years she and David took several lengthy road trips across the country, making memories she fondly recollected into her last days.

Paula was predeceased by her husband, David, in 2014. She is survived by daughters: Lynn Morris with husband Ralph Miller, and their children, Calvin, Alexander, and Sarah with husband Justin Walker and great-grandsons, Vincent and Simon; Tracy Morris and her son, Tobias Wick; and Donna Morris and partner, Austin Thomerson, along with a number of 4-legged grandchildren (Stubby and Kahuna miss her especially.)

A visitation will be held in her honor on Friday, January 4, 2019 from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. inside the Chapel of American Heritage Funeral Home, 10710 Veterans Memorial Drive, Houston, Texas 77038. The Celebration of Life will then start at 11:45 a.m. with a committal service to follow at the Houston National Cemetery, 10410 Veterans Memorial Drive, Houston, Texas 77038.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be designated to one of the following or the organization of your choice:

Houston Public Media online at https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/support/

Rice University Annual Fund online at giving.rice.edu or mailed to Rice University, Office of Development MS-81, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892

*From https://scholars.houstonmethodist.org/en/publications/case-report(39d565a4-3641-420e-bf69-14c6f7393ba0).html