Mary Elizabeth Morrissey

Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Walsh Morrissey passed away peacefully on September 8, 2015 at her home in Alexandria, VA, in the care of her children. She was 96. Betty Morrissey was born July 25, 1919, in Jamaica, New York, to John and Mary Josephine (Smyth) Walsh. She attended Bishop McDonald High School, in Brooklyn, and graduated at 19 from the College of New Rochelle. She worked for several years in the Manhattan office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Betty was married in December 1947 to her husband of 62 years, the late Joseph Michael Morrissey. Not long after their marriage, Mr. Morrissey, an Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, was recalled into the Air Force. Betty joined him as the next 21 years took them and their growing family on tours of duty in Detroit MI, Houston TX, Sacramento CA, Gifu Japan, San Antonio TX, Auburn AL (where Betty received her MS in Education at Auburn University, and taught in the Opelika AL public high school), Wiesbaden Germany, and, finally, to Alexandria VA. While their five children were still school-aged, Betty worked part time as a researcher for the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) in Alexandria. Then, after their youngest child left for college, Betty, by this time 61, returned to school herself, obtained an AA degree in Computer Science from Northern Virginia Community College, and then went to work as a programmer for some years at the Federal Farm Credit Bureau. To her children, Betty was an unfailing source of love, guidance, support, advocacy, care, and critique, somehow finding a way to raise, as a son-in-law once put it, “five ‘only’ children.” She instilled in all of them a deep and abiding love of reading and learning, and respect for teaching, scholarship, and the fine arts. A voracious reader herself, especially of books of history, and an engaged and acuter observer of the world around her, she was devouring The Washington Post and The New York Times, almost to her very last day. Betty described herself as shy. Her ingenious way of coping with shyness was to be always engaged with, and interested in, everyone she met; learning and listening, becoming a true and considerate friend. She loved ballet, and spent countless happy and engaged hours with her sister at performances in New York and Washington, performances most keenly enjoyed if the cast included Rudolf Nureyev. Avowedly no athlete, Betty began attending water aerobics classes in her sixties at the Fairfax County George Washington Recreation Center, where she became a regular attendee of the classes offered by Linda Ely. She continued these classes well into her 94th year, driving disabled participants to class, and cheerfully joining in on “Donut Fridays” and the annual summer picnic and fall pig roast. Besides her husband, who passed away in December 2009, Betty was pre-deceased by her beloved sister, Jane Walsh Savage, and by her two brothers, John Martin Walsh and Robert Felix Walsh. She is survived by her five children: Michael (Wendy), Sheila (Michael Gecan), Donald (Dawn), Jane (Jeff Cornett), and David; by her eight grandchildren: Joseph Gecan (Katrina Väänänen), Sean Morrissey (Linda), Alex Gecan, Leigh Troy (Michael), Nora Gecan, Joseph Morrissey, Colin Morrissey, and Rose Morrissey; by four great-grandchildren; and by her 25 nieces and nephews. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Demaine Funeral Home, 520 South Washington Street, Alexandria, VA (703-549-0074). Visitation is on September 19, from 11:00AM to 2:00PM. Interment will be on Friday, October 30, 2015 at 1:00 pm at Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family suggesst contributions in Betty’s name to the American Ballet Theatre, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, or a charity of your choice.