Richard Morris Obituary

Richard Ellison Morris Hemingway, SC - Richard Ellison Morris, Sr.,78, husband of Janice Brewer Nettles Morris, passed away Thursday, August 27, 2020 in a Florence hospital. Mr. Ellison was born in Olanta, SC, a son of the late William Ellison "W. E." Morris, Jr. and the late Janie Lou Cook Morris. He was a member of the Hemingway First Baptist Church, served on the Board of Williamsburg First National Bank in Hemingway, and had been a past member of the SC Funeral Directors Association and the Pee Dee Funeral Directors Association. He was a graduate of Olanta High School, where he was an outstanding Baseball and Basketball player. He attended St. Andrews Presbyterian College in NC and was a standout player there for 2 years. He was very athletic; he loved playing basketball, baseball, golf, and beloved watching college football and college basketball. After college, he came to Hemingway to work for his Uncle Merritt Morris at Morris Funeral Home along with his longtime friend, Al Smith, and that is how he started his career at the funeral home. When he married Elaine Poston on September 25, 1965, their honeymoon was spent in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was attending school. In 1966, he graduated from the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science and he returned to Hemingway and, when the funeral home became incorporated, he was chosen to become the President and Manager for Morris Funeral Home and he served in that position for 48 years. He was predeceased by his first wife, Elaine Poston Morris. He is survived by his wife, Janice Brewer Morris; son, Richard (Amie) Morris; granddaughters, Jane Ellison Morris and Maeve Cook Morris; brother, William (Billy) Cook Morris; step-sons, Derrick (Paige) Nettles and Wade Nettles; step-grandchildren, Badyn Nettles, Claudia Joy Nettles; beloved sister-in-law, Nelda (Andy) Fowler; aunts, Carleen Cook Tanner and Janie Lou Morris. He was predeceased by a niece, Meredith Shannon Morris. Graveside services, directed by Morris Funeral Home of Hemingway, SC, will be held at 5:00 PM Sunday, August 30, 2020 in the Garden of Devotion Cemetery, 800 S. Georgetown Hwy., Johnsonville, SC 29555. The family will receive friends from 3:00 PM until 4:30 PM Sunday, August 30, 2020 in the Morris Funeral Home Chapel, 416 N. Main St., Hemingway, SC 29554. Memorials may be made to the Hemingway First Baptist Church/church fund, PO Box 485, Hemingway, SC 29554. Please sign the guest book at morris-funeralhome.com. Visit our guestbook at www.legacy.com/obituaries/ charleston