Morris, John Porter (02/07/1939–01/04/1995). John Morris of New Castle, Pennsylvania received a B.A. degree in Psychology from Grinnell in 1961. He was a member of the drama group (Grinnell Players, 1957-58) and won the Selden L. Whitcomb Poetry Second Prize (1960-61). He spent his junior year at the University of Edinburgh. While at Grinnell he lived in Cowles Hall.
Grinnell Psychology Professor Givens Thornton was a helpful mentor to John and directed him to graduate school at the University of Washington in Seattle. There John received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology in 1965. Later he completed a clinical internship that prepared him to work with clients.
From 1965 to 1969 John was an Assistant Professor at Denison University where he taught introductory psychology, child and adolescent development, and social psychology. He then joined the
Grinnell psychology faculty. At his alma mater, he was a tenured Associate Professor. He also started the Grinnell preschool program to serve both students and faculty interested in early childhood development. In 1975 John resigned his position at Grinnell and moved to Colombia, South America, where he started an import/export business.
A year later John returned to Seattle. There he engaged in clinical psychology in the prison system and in independent practice. In the early 1990s John retired from his Seattle psychology practice and moved to Tele, Honduras. He and friends worked on developing a resort on the coast. On January 4, 1995, John was stabbed to death while walking home at night in a random attack. His friends concluded Honduras was too dangerous for Americans and left the country shortly thereafter.
John married Linda Ann Finton ’61 in 1962. They had two children, Elizabeth and Katherine Morris. John and Linda divorced in the 1972.
John is survived by his two daughters and his sisters, Virginia Morris Weigel ’62 and Alice (Morris) Willis.
