Laura Marie (Kenny) Morrow RN (1933 - 2012)

Born 14 Mar 1933 in Conception Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada

Ancestors

Wife of William Knight Morrow PE — married about 1956 in Shaker Heights, Ohio [uncertain]

Died 1 May 2012 at age 79 in Kenmore, New York

Biography

Laura grew up in Newfoundland and learned secretarial skills such as shorthand in high school. She started some college work but did not complete before she went to work in New York City.

In 1953, Laura moved to New York City and lived with her sister Geraldine. She worked as a secretary for a Jewish businessman. It was an exciting time in her life, going to Broadway shows and going out to dinners with her girlfriends. She would often look back on this time of her life in her later years with nostalgia.

In 1955, Laura was introduced to her husband Bill by her father, who worked as a contractor at the Naval Station Argentia in Newfoundland. The soon promised each other to marriage and were married in Cleveland, OH. In 1957, they later moved to Buffalo and later to its northern suburb Kenmore, where they lived for the rest of their lives.

Laura's family often visited her sister Gerry's family in Oxford, Michigan.

When starting out in Kenmore, lived at a house on Sheppard Avenue and in December 1961, they moved their growing family to 315 Crosby Avenue, Kenmore NY 14217 . She attended St. John the Baptist Church and insisted that her children went to church while they lived in her house.

Around 1980, Laura attended the accelerated 2-year nursing course at Erie Community College. She often had study groups at the Crosby house during this time. She earned her degree and then her NYS Nursing license.^[1][2]

Laura sang with the Buffalo Choral Arts Society with her husband. He was a bass and she was an alto.^[3]

Laura developed colon cancer in 1984. She had a colostomy. She continued to rely on the emotional support of her husband who died suddenly later that year.

In 1989, she developed lung cancer which proved to be a metastasis of her colon cancer. In her initial efforts to find treatment, some surgeons told to that since she had metastatic cancer, that they would not risk their professional reputation on treating her and that she should just go home and die. She managed to find a thoracic surgeon, a Dr. Tekita who did remove her diseased lung. Laura was then cured of cancer.

Laura continued on as before and often went to the Wainfleet cottage in the summer with her friends, her children and grandchildren.

In 2011, Laura was told that she had liver cancer. It was a new primary cancer, not a metastasis. In 2012, Laura died of liver cancer while in hospice. She was buried next to her husband.^[4][5][6][7]

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie_Community_College
2. ↑ http://www.op.nysed.gov/
3. ↑ http://buffalochoralarts.org/
4. ↑ http://www.obittree.com/obituary/510249/Morrow-Laura.php
5. ↑ http://mertzfh.com/book-of-memories/1209991/morrow-laura/service-details.php
6. ↑ http://cmertzandsonfuneralhome.frontrunnerpro.com/book-of-memories/1209991/Laura-Morrow/obituary.php
7. ↑ https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kenmore,+NY+14217/@42.9926561,-78.8825274,25m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x89d36d10b8fdd40b:0x764e2929072ab8b4!8m2!3d42.9658907!4d-78.870036