Laurel Morris Jenkins

Laurel was born October 14, 1937 in Cleveland, Ohio, daughter of the late Nelson Wilbur Morris and Anne Koprowski Morris and sister of Nelson Wayne Morris (d. 1957) and Roger Dale Morris (d. 2023). Laurel was a vivacious, outstanding student with a passion for learning and music and loved to sing and play piano. Lollie, as her family and friends called her, attended Purdue University and Miami University of Ohio, where she graduated with honors. Upon graduation Laurel moved to Long Beach California to teach middle school English and Dramatic Arts. There she met a young Naval officer named Peter Jenkins, and they began a lifelong romance and a life filled with things Laurel loved: happy music, beautiful flowers, vibrant colors, and sparkle.

In the early years of their marriage, Laurel and Peter lived in Wallingford, CT, North Wales, PA and Shaker Heights, OH. They then settled in Simsbury, CT to raise their four children, Kimberley, Karin, Peter and Nelson. It was an action packed life of gardening, travel, books, paddle tennis, jelly making, hockey games, sweater knitting, painting, sewing, foraging, crafting, creative culinary wonders, gourmet dinner parties, lively times with friends, battles of wit and repartee, creative fun, and love. Laurel was a true Renaissance woman. She had a remarkably lively intellect and there was seemingly nothing she couldn’t do.

In later years, Laurel went back to work, serving as the Coordinator of Off-Campus Programs at Miss Porter’s School, building a business in Kilkee, Ireland, and owning and running a Sylvan Learning Center with Peter for many years on Cape Cod prior to retiring there.

Laurel was a fierce defender of her family and loved to educate herself and embraced any subject she found new and interesting. She was a member of the Academy of Lifelong Learning and made many new friends in her retirement years on Cape Cod, cherishing her time with her children, grandchildren, and many lifelong friends.

Laurel served as a role-model of how to mother, how to show up, and how to love without condition. Many of her children’s friends found Laurel in times of need and found their way through with Laurel’s loving, nurturing certainty and guidance.

So many of her greatest gifts and memories were born out of her sense of thrift. She could make a winter picnic a wonderland, a day at the beach a feast of Bouillabaisse, and a rummage through basements and attics a treasure trove of fashion. Lollie could pull anything off. She was wildly smart and clever and patient and kind and loving and beautiful.

Laurel was predeceased by her husband of 61 years, Peter P Jenkins, Jr, and leaves behind daughter Kimberley Tracy and her husband Jeffrey, daughter Karin Walsh and her husband Stephen, son Peter P Jenkins, III and his wife Pauline, and son Nelson C Jenkins and his partner Weldy Webb. She will be sorely missed by her cherished grandchildren Josie Tracy, Shawn Tracy, Emma Walsh, Stephen Walsh Jr, Peter P Jenkins IV and Johanna Jenkins and many extended family members and friends.

A Celebration of Life will be held Sunday, March 3, 2024 at the Plymouth Yacht Club, Plymouth, MA.