Dr. Ellen Ruth Morrow was born on February 24, 1936, in Ringgold, LA, to W. J. and Sue Ellen Scott Morrow.
She graduated from Beeville High School in 1954.
She taught the summer between high school and college at several Girl Scout Camps in KY and Brownsville, TX, two private camps, one in Maine and one in Hunt, TX.
She graduated from Southwest Texas State University earning her Bachelor's Degree in 1958, in San Marcos, TX.
She took a teaching job in Sweeney, TX. She went to Paris, France, that summer. She and some friends took college courses at University of Paris, and Pau University. Pau, France. they also did some sightseeing while there. Her first nephew, Kelvin Frank, was born August 4, 1959, and she sent a telegram from Paris to congratulate his parents.
From Sweeney, TX, she took a job in Modesto, CA, where she stayed a few years. She took a job at the Pleasant Valley Senior High School and Chico Unified School District, Chico, CA. She earned her Master's Degree from Chico State College, Chico, CA.
Texas Tech University hired her to come back to Lubbock, TX, to develop their Women's Track and Basketball Teams. She developed and coached them for several years, for no extra pay. She got merchants from downtown Lubbock to furnish vans to transport her track and basketball teams to the out of town games.
Texas Tech University started hiring coaches for their women's track and basketball teams when she took a year off teaching to complete her Doctorate in 1981 at Texas Woman's University in Denton, TX. She returned to Texas Tech University where she retired in 1998.
She lobbied for changes in the Women's Physical Education Department for women's equality. She served in the Faculty Senate and was a Faculty Sponsor for the Major-Minor Professional Club.
She was known for driving her 1966 Blue Corvette across campus pulling her trailer with field and track equipment to the track field. She loved Texas Tech and was always recruiting for Texas Tech.
While in Lubbock, she served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Lubbock Chapter of Southwest Region American Red Cross as well as other positions. She was given the American Red Cross Southwest Star Award for her long time service and devotion and leadership in 1999.
She moved to Grandfield, OK, in 2004, to be near her sister Patricia Dudenhoeffer. She bought a house in Grandfield and you could see her TEXAS TECH flag flying high in her front yard. She missed Lubbock, but "adjusted" to small town living. She lived in Grandfield until she died on January 23, 2010.
She was a Baptist.
She was cremated and will be buried in Grandfield, with TEXAS FLAGS on all four corners of her grave. Her three little poodles that she adored, Buster, Tinker and Toffee were cremated and buried with her.
Memorial service will be 2:00 p.m. Saturday, February 13, 2010, at Gray Funeral Home Chapel.
Donations may be made to Texas Tech University, %Melanie Hart, Box 43011, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409.
Survivors include her sister, Patricia (Trish), brother-in-law Clay and nephews Kelvin Frank, Kurt Alan and Kacey Clay Dudenhoeffer, and their wives, Barbara, Audra and Elizabeth, an uncle Eugene Morrow and wife Alene, San Marcus, TX and an uncle Robert Scott and wife Margaret, Ringgold, LA. She had two grandnephews, William Clay and Robert Glen, sons of Kacey Dudenhoeffer.
She will be greatly missed by family, friends, former-students and former co-workers.