William Morrison, Marine, naturalist

William Millar Morrison of Redding, a Marine veteran who was a naturalist and humanitarian, died unexpectedly on Sunday, Nov. 12, at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Bridgeport. He was 74 years old and had formerly lived in Ridgefield and Wilton.
Mr. Morrison was born in Abington, Pa. on Dec. 10, 1925, son of William Millar Morrison and Janet Bowman Morrison. As a senior in high school, he volunteered for service in the Marine Corps. He graduated from Cornell University after completing the Navy’s Officer Training Program at Notre Dame. He served in active duty as a second lieutenant in the Korean War with the 10th Artillery Regiment of the Second Division, where he spent six months with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean as commander of the artillery contingent of a reinforced infantry battalion. A shipmate and friend fondly remembers Mr. Morrison’s record player as “the vehicle by which he discovered the virtues of the Rossini overtures.” He attained the rank of captain before the end of the Korean War.
After resigning his commission at the end of the war, Mr. Morrison returned to Philadelphia and resumed his studies toward a master’s degree in English. “He emulated Samuel Johnson’s understanding of the English language, striving throughout his life to express himself with accuracy, wit and beauty,” said family and friends.
While continuing his studies and working, he also served as a Big Brother to youth in Philadelphia. Later, when living in Connecticut, through his church he visited homebound victims of MS and other illnesses. He also served as president of the board of directors of the Amos House in Danbury.
Mr. Morrison lived in Wilton in the 1960s and, after a period in Atlanta, Ga., moved to a pre-Revolutionary house on Silver Spring Road in Ridgefield, where he lived many years.
His affinity for music was instrumental in his contribution to the Recorded Music Selection Committee of the Wilton Library where he was described as having “a unique talent and unerring sense of the needs of all the patrons who value the library’s collection as a cherished resource.”
Mr. Morrison worked for many years for the Atlantic Richfield Corp. In Connecticut, he was employed by Commercial Heating in Stratford until his retirement in August of this year.
He was a conservationist, and naturalist whose understanding of the circle of life ranged from the delicate butterfly to invasive plant species, and birds of prey. His avocation was watching hawks at Derby Hill in Syracuse, N.Y., where he regularly spent a week during spring migration observing birds of prey in flight. The northern harrier was his favorite bird, the hollyhock his favorite flower, his family said.
“He will be remembered as a genteel humanitarian scholar, patriot, feminist, and naturalist,” said family and friends. “His kindness and generosity touched many lives. He will be missed.”
Mr. Morrison is survived by two daughters, Isis Janet Morrison of Redding and Elizabeth Ann Morrison of Cambridge, Mass.; his sister, Janet Morrison Gold, and her husband Jim of West Cornwall; and several nieces and nephews. He also leaves behind a puppy, Suzie Q.
His wife, Madeleine Crosby Morrison, died in 1991.
A memorial service will be held at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on Main Street in Ridgefield on Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 1:30 p.m.
Contributions in his memory may be made to The Sterling Nature Center, P.O. Box 216, Sterling, NY 13156, where a new hawk watching area will be dedicated to him, or to Derby Hill Bird Observatory, Onondaga Audubon Society, 124 Lewis Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13224.