FLORENCE TRAVER STRATTON MORRILL

April 25, 1897 – November 6, 1994

by Eva Morriss, Saint Timothy’s Church, Wilson, 2011

“Life is exciting.  There’s a new adventure every day,” declared Florence T. Stratton Morrill, who moved to Wilson, North Carolina, in 1925. Florence was very active at Saint Timothy’s, Wilson, where she taught Sunday school for an extended period and served as an efficient and industrious church hostess for twenty years. Florence considered serving as a delegate to the Diocesan Convention an honor and privilege. She surmised, “I’ve done everything at the church except preach.” Florence’s strong religious convictions were deep-rooted in her Episcopal background and study of philosophy. Job was her favorite book of the Bible because “God is loving, but man only has a finite ability to understand Him.” “Forgiving is difficult but necessary to be at peace with yourself,” Florence said.  “If you can’t love your neighbor you can see, how can you love a God you can’t see?”

Florence’s lifelong search for truth and thirst for knowledge went beyond the bounds of literature and philosophy. During her busy years at Saint Timothy’s, she compiled two booklets in 1987: Symbolism at Saint Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Wilson, N.C and Stained Glass Windows, Saint Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Wilson, North Carolina. Both booklets continue to be used in the parish Christian Formation programs. Once when Florence was talking with the First Communion class about symbolism and the stained glass windows, a student looked at her and asked: “Are you a saint?”

Serving as a hostess brought Florence much acclaim. She especially enjoyed preparing spoon bread and champagne slush. Her Black Russian Cake recipe – with homemade Kahlua of sugar, instant coffee and “spirits” – is divine! She loved gardening and continued tending and pruning until her death. About her advanced age, Florence said that curiosity, loving friends and family,  a sense of humor and faith in God kept her going.

Florence was interested in everything except spectator sports, but said, giggling, “I did do some courting on the tennis courts.” She was an active member of The Book Club, Wilson’s oldest women’s literary club.

Florence spearheaded a new ECW chapter at Saint Timothy’s, Saint Francis Guild, which continues to be instrumental in visiting the elderly and shut-ins and organizing transportation for those who have problems getting to doctors’ appointments or shopping.

A native of Petersburg, Virginia, Florence graduated from Randolph Macon College and Columbia University. One of her business school professors at Columbia dedicated a book on banking to her.

Florence had fond memories of her days in Richmond, Virginia, where she worked as a deputy collector for the Internal Revenue Service. The government sent her a Colt .45, just in case it was needed on the job. She said it was not issued to her because she was the only woman working in her building. It was through her IRS job and mutual friends that she met Samuel Poore Morrill of Wilson who married her and brought her to his home town.

A gentle, humorous lady, Florence lived until the age of 97 and is buried in Saint Timothy’s columbarium.

ELIZA ADAM JONES

1839 – 1911

by Ellen C. Weig, Saint Matthew’s Church, Hillsborough, 2010

Baptized Eliza Adam Jones, Miss Lizzie was the daughter of Mary Cameron Jones and Hillsborough physician Halcott Pride Jones. Both parents were from genteel families of longstanding Episcopal faith. Miss Lizzie attended the Burwell School from 1848-1852. It was a progressive education at the time, and seems to have included an early form of female empowerment that Miss Lizzie took to heart. She was an excellent musician, studying in Hillsborough and in New York.  By her twenties Miss Lizzie’s life revolved largely around St. Matthew’s. Her religious faith, musical talent, and purposefulness found a focus there as church organist and choir director. At the age of 27 she assumed the presidency of the Ladies Sewing Society, a group of industrious churchwomen who worked for substantial church improvements, including painted windows, a slate roof, and an organ. In the financially tight years following the Civil War Miss Lizzie motivated her peers to make needlework a serious business venture. Her own skills included embroidery, knitting, crocheting, making braid, and sewing. She made socks, slippers, infant shirts, spool-cases, needle-books, sleeve loops, and bands. She gently kept the Society on task, saying in her President’s Address of July 7, 1871:

“It would afford me intense gratification if you would come provided with needle, scissors, and thimble – Now that I am prepared to give instruction in many branches of work, I find that what is now a very heavy job for one would be light work to all.”

Her words demonstrate that she was not only skillful in her crafts, but that she provided a forceful leadership within the Society, and encouragement and inspiration to the Ladies to work together for their common purpose. Miss Lizzie never married, which was not uncommon in her day since a great swath of young men had been lost in the War. She is buried at St. Matthew’s, and is perhaps best remembered in the words of Episcopal Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire, who said in his historical address at St. Matthew’s in 1924:

“I remind you of one noble woman, whom most, if not all, of you must have in mind before I name her, your organist for so many years, the faithful co-laborer with Dr. Curtis in creating the high standard of sacred music, which characterized his services; and the perpetuator for so many years after his death of his musical tradition, - Miss Lizzie Jones. Omitting only the names of Bishop Green and Dr. Curtis, I doubt if any should be put on a level with hers, in respect to her influence upon the life and work of the parish, as well on its spiritual side, as in the expression of that life in the worship of the sanctuary… .In my mind’s eye I can see her now, sitting there before the organ, radiant with the light of unaffected goodness and devotion, “the beauty of holiness.”