Sat, Jul 19 2008

Published: March 29, 2008 08:46 pm

2008 DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN: Dr. Sylvia Morris

Holding two floppy-brim black hats, Dr. Sylvia Morris says proudly, “I made these hats for the community theater play, ‘Romeo & Juliet.’” Nearby her beloved cat, Jennifer, lies curled up in a soft chair, sunlight filtering through drawn curtains.

At 86, this diminutive lady hardly looks the role of a powerhouse in the medical, social and cultural circles of Cullman, but that’s exactly who she has become through a lifetime of diligence, dedication and hard work.

Born in Le Roy, Iowa to Dean and Myra Burbank, she said, “Cullman is my adopted home, but don’t you dare suggest I go back to Iowa. I love Cullman, and it’s certainly my home now.”

Her father, Dr. Dean Stanley Burbank, was a country doctor in Iowa, and she found herself following in his footsteps as a young adult.

“Actually,” she explains, “I’m a fourth-generation doctor. My youngest son John Douglas Morris is the fifth generation. So I guess you could say I was kind of limited in my career choice. However, my brother did become a newspaper man, but I wanted to be a doctor.”

The Early Years

Dr. Morris earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Grinnell College, her M.D. from the University of Iowa, did an internship at Baltimore City Hospital and completed pediatric training at Johns Hopkins.

During that time she met John Thomas Morris, a young man from Clay County who grew up in Birmingham, attended the University of Alabama and earned his medical degree at Johns Hopkins. They dated, but then he entered military duty with the U.S. Army, serving for two years while Dr. Sylvia Morris joined her father’s private practice.

The University of Iowa medical school in the early 1940s was a difficult era for women; there were five girls out of 100 students in Dr. Morris’ class.

“You had to stand up for yourself, and that was good training. The professors seemed dedicated to the idea that girls didn’t belong in medical school and would try to drive us out. You literally had to defend yourself.”

Yet, she recalls there were unique moments of kindness.

“I’ll never forget the reminder that chivalry is not dead. Back in medical school, when we were being pushed and shoved and pointed out that ‘you’re no good,’ ‘you don’t belong here’ — that sort of thing. In the anatomy lab, things got kind of noisy and nasty at times. Finally came the day when the guy I worked with just put his hands over my ears and said, ‘Now all of you stop. Don’t talk that way around her anymore.’”

However, the determination and dedication in medical school became a hallmark of Dr. Morris’ many accomplishments through the coming years since she learned you sometimes just have to roll up your sleeves and get to work, no matter the barriers.

She is not without a sense of humor, and when asked why she wanted to become a pediatrician, she jokes, “Because kids have more fun than grownups!” Then more seriously, “Children are very honest, direct and will tell you right off whether they like you or not. But really, you treat the whole family as a pediatrician, because when a mom brings in a sick child, you learn about her and all the family.”

When John Morris returned from the Army, they married and moved to Birmingham where John Morris did a refresher internship at University of Alabama at Birmingham and Sylvia Morris served as an instructor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.

In 1949 they moved to Hanceville, establishing a practice with Dr. Nelson Hamilton. When Dr. Hamilton left for Mississippi after one year, Drs. John and Sylvia Morris decided they wanted to remain in the area.

Though no other female doctor had ever been licensed to practice in Cullman county, Dr. Morris said she came into the area ready to practice and said, “I walked in there and told them I had the education and training, then asked where the patients were. I was accepted and went to work.”

“One of the things I saw a lot in children in those days was worms, which have been eradicated today,” she said. “But the best part of treating children is how wonderful they are, and seeing them get well is very rewarding.”

The Middle Years

In 1955 Dr. Morris and her husband had a home built on the east side of the city of Cullman. It became a lifelong home where they raised three sons, Thomas Dean, Richard Lee and John Douglas Morris.

“I decided to stay home with my children when they were small, but I remained active in the community during those years, too. I don’t know how young women today do all they do — work and child-rearing at the same time. I admire them, I really do,” she said.

Those years were productive in many ways other than nurturing her young children. Dr. Morris was president of the Women’s Auxiliary, Medical Association of the state of Alabama; president of the Cullman Civic Music Association; on the Board of Directors for the Cullman County Mental Health Association; and on the Board of Directors for Cullman County Red Cross.

“Now stop and think,” Dr. Morris advised. “No one does these things by themselves. It’s a community effort, and if you can find somebody who is willing to work with you to get something done, why not do it? And have a good time while you’re at it, and we did. Some of the people I worked with were just wonderful.”

Divorced in 1972, Dr. Morris returned to practice after her children were in school. She became assistant medical director of Tri-County Health Service, earning an MPH in epidemiology from University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1981.

During this time she also continued to stay active and devoted to the community and said, “I always wanted to help create the kind of community my children would want to return to as adults, and they have. That gives me great satisfaction.”

Dr. Morris helped establish scholarships for public school teachers and helped build the public library and high school complex; she worked with the AFS student exchange program for ten years, helped develop the swim team and establish the Hospice program in Cullman as well as serving on the board of directors with the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce.

Commenting about the medical field today, she said, “The science of medicine is getting more and more refined every day. But the art of medicine still needs cultivating. And this goes for us in our daily lives. We need to be more kind and thoughtful to each other.”

The Retirement Years

While some people retire and expect to do nothing but enjoy hobbies or grandchildren, Dr. Morris has accomplished as much since 1988 as some people do in a lifetime.

She said, “Back in the late ‘80s, just before I retired, I happened to be visiting some of my kinfolk back in Ohio, and my aunt said to me, ‘I have a box full of letters in my attic that you might like to read. They were written by your great-uncle when he was a doctor in the Civil War.’ I agreed, and she brought down a box of over 170 letters.

“I sat up all night reading those letters, they were so absorbing. And I thought, maybe this is what I need to do when I retire. I can’t say I’d ever thought that much about the Civil War, it was just over to most of us yankees. But as I read through those letters, I learned more than I ever did in a history book. It helped me so much to understand where he was coming from, and I thought if I could present this as a book, others could learn also.”

It took eight years of research and editorial work, but Dr. Morris edited a historical book entitled, “Jerome: To My Beloved Absent Companion, Letters of a Civil War surgeon to his wife at home, caring for their family.”

“Just a few weeks ago, I was reading a prestigious historical journal and saw some of the letters in my book referenced in the article,” Dr. Morris said. “I am glad the book can serve as reference and a learning experience for others.”

Over the years, she’s become a local historian and authored a book about the doctors in Cullman County before 1900. She is currently working on a book about doctors from 1900 to 1940.

When asked if there was another historical era she would have liked to live in, she said, “No. I think I’ve lived in a fascinating time, and today is a wonderful, exciting time to be alive.”

Her writing didn’t stop with the historical work, though. She is also an accomplished author of short stories and poetry, as well as making her beloved cat, Jennifer, famous in three books.

“All of my work is rooted in real life incidents, but I enjoy being creative, too,” she said.

A member of the Writer’s Conclave of Alabama, Dr. Morris recently won honorable mention recognition for her traditional poem, “Old Age.”

She is also a member of the Mountain Valley Poets, who meet at her home occasionally for coffee and poetry readings.

Dr. Morris attends Cullman First Baptist Church where she sometimes sings in the senior adult choir and teaches Sunday school classes.

“Actually,” she says with a chuckle, “I referee the classes.”

She has two grandchildren, Beth, 8, and John Thomas, 6, who live nearby and visit frequently.

Her life, she said, has been an open book, and she thinks most people know her for who she truly is.

Asked how she would like to be remembered, Dr. Morris said simply, “That I loved Cullman.”