Alein Morris

Alein Leonora Murie Morris, 92, fell asleep in the Lord Friday, July 26 in the comfort of her home in Raleigh, NC. Born in 1927 in Calexico, California to parents Thomas and Alta Mae Murie, and an older sister, Mary Lee. Her father was an inventor and avid race car driver and he actually invented the midget auto racecar. Several of his inventions are in museums. The family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah shortly after her birth where in 1930 her brother, Leon was born. Her mother had always told her that she was “one of God’s chosen, a really blessed child” and during the course of her life, she was witness to many of God’s miracles. At the tender age of 3 came one such miracle: She was walking on the sidewalk with a friend when a car came out of nowhere and knocked her into the middle of the street – they swerved back and ran over her again. Her legs and pelvis were crushed and the doctors said they would have to amputate both legs and because of her pelvic injuries, she would never be able to have children. They also stated that she would surely die without surgery. Her father, being a devout Christian, told the doctors that they would not touch her legs. He and his wife prayed over their little girl throughout the night. At dawn, the doctors declared that it was a miracle but that they would still need to amputate her right leg. Again, her father refused and Alein remained in the hospital in a cast for a year. Then as her father’s patience grew thin and as he worried that one of her legs would be shorter than the other, he picked her up and carried her out of the hospital. They went to Kansas City to the house of her grandmother Bougher. Her father took a handsaw and sawed off the cast – her legs were both the same and not only could she stand but she could walk immediately….and she ended up with Four Children!! When she was 16, she married her first true love, James Bruce Morris, LCDR on February 24, 1944. They had a son, James in 1945. Her husband’s military service and WWII took the young family to Japan where he was captain of an air force squadron and she taught English in a Japanese school until that fateful day in 1956 when, while she was painting (a favorite pastime of hers), she heard on the radio that there had been an explosion of a new aircraft and that someone in her husband’s squadron had been flying it. A little later came the knock at her door where all the members of the squadron stood and only one was missing. She never painted again, she took her son and moved back to Arkansas where her husband’s family was from. She decided to go back to college and there met her second love, Demetrius Leonidas Noulis, whom she married June 2, 1958. They took her son James and went to Greece for their honeymoon to meet his family. Upon their return, they moved to Texas where Demetrius graduated from SMU and their first daughter, Elaine was born in 1961. James went off to college soon afterwards and Demetrius began working for Sheraton Hotels which took them to Minnesota where the couple had two more daughters, Dianna in 1966 and Mary in 1969. After Mary’s birth, Demetrius worked for Holiday Inns and the family moved around the country a lot always living in the hotels where he worked. Finally, in 1974, Demetrius left Holiday Inns and they all moved to Raleigh, NC. Raleigh is where they established roots and became very involved in their Church, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church where Alein served as President of Philoptochos – the woman’s philanthropic arm of the Church and Demetrius served as President of the Parish. While serving in Philoptochos, Alein was instrumental in bringing an Orthodox African missionary, Mama Stravitsa, to Raleigh to visit and the Chapter assisted her in getting many needed items to take back to Africa. Her and other members back in the 1970’s planted the trees which still stand around the Church today as well as so many other contributions that cannot begin to be mentioned. Up until present day, Alein has always had a strong love of her Church and always assisted until the time came that she was no longer able but she was still always seen sitting on the front pew so that she could hear, see, and smell the beautiful Liturgy whenever possible. It is fitting that she passed peacefully on the Feast Day of Saint Paraskeve as this Saint (who the Orthodox pray to for healing of the eyes) answered the prayers of many when Alein was declared blind in one eye and suffered from severe macular degeneration in the other. She got an Icon of this Saint and had it blessed in the altar which is a customary practice. The day she received the Icon back from the Priest was the same day she had another doctor appointment regarding her eyes. Her doctor declared that in fact it was a miracle because her eyesight had actually improved – even in the blind eye – when all they were trying to do was stop the deterioration from progressing any further. For the past many years, she has been living in independent living as she did not want to become a burden on her family but also enjoyed being able to do for herself – even after being told two years ago that she had breast and ovarian cancer and a bad heart valve and would not live more than another month or two at most. That would not deter her for she knew she was one of God’s chosen and she had faith that God was always holding her hand. Her favorite pastime was BINGO at her residence, in fact, her and her best friend, Ms. Lee would sit in the Bingo room for about 2 hours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday just visiting and waiting for Bingo to begin. Alein is survived by her son, James (Mary Jo) of Ash Flat, Arkansas; her daughters, Elaine of Raleigh and Mary (Joel) of Holly Springs; and 3 beautiful grandsons and loves of her life, Henry, James (Lindsey) and Ryder. Funeral is to be held Wednesday, July 31 at 11am at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 5000 Leadmine Road; the visitation will be on Tuesday, July 30, also at Holy Trinity, from 6-8pm with the Trisaigon Prayer Service at 6:30. Interment will be at the Morris Family Cemetery Denmark, AR. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Transitions LifeCare (Hospice) of Raleigh or Holy Trinity.