Carolyn Morris Beckett

is honored with a Brick from Elizabeth Kay.

Born in Wichita September 11, 1923.
Child of May Arnett Morris and William A. Morris.
Younger sister to Eloise Morris McMurty.
Older sister to Mary Margaret Morris Boyd.
Mother to David Morris Kauffman (1946-1966).
Mother to James Hugh Kauffman (born 1949).
Married to Herbert LeRoy Kauffman 35 years; divorced.
Re-Married to James Beckett of Wichita.

My mother Carolyn is the most special person to me and I know others feel the same. She, like her mother May, are the most loving, non-judgmental, compassionate persons I have ever met. She is very hard working which seems to run in the family. Her dad and his dad Walter Morris were real estate developers responsible for neighborhoods such as Sleepy Hollow. Carolyn and a large portion of my relatives still show up to work each day at the office of Walter Morris and Son on South Dellrose - a business established in 1888.

She moved to California when she was 20 years old with my dad, Herbert L. Kauffman of Topeka. Herb was receiving his PhD from Stanford and would eventually teach at San Francisco State University for 35 years. My brother David was born in Lawrence, but my brother Jim and I were born in California.

By the time I was born she was operating a backyard nursery school, raising us three kids, and had begun co-authoring a book with her friend Pat Farrell entitled "If You Live With Little Children" published by Putnam and Sons.

She also resumed her college studies and was working on her B.A. in Education. She had begun her studies at WSU after having graduated from East High School, then gone on to Purdue, then on to California.

Carolyn was hired by a co-op nursery school where she was to help influence thousands of 2 and 3 and 4 year olds over the next 25 years. She also continued her education receiving her Masters in Childhood Education from San Francisco State University. Her masters degree allowed her to teach childhood education classes at our local junior college, the College of San Mateo in the evenings.

She started a summer swim school program at our home in Millbrae, which encouraged her to write a second book entitled "How to Teach Children to Swim" also published by Putnam and Sons. She taught swimming for 12 years, taught pre-school for 25 years, wrote 2 books, received both her B.A. and Masters all by the time I was 14 years old. Wow!

Yet she rarely missed my brothers basketball or sporting events or my numerous swimming meets and she always had a beautiful breakfast, a packed lunch, a nutritious dinner ready for us. Our gardens were vast and she contributed to their beauty in so many ways. She is the best party giver. She is a true giver in every sense of the world. Even though our family suffered the sudden death of my eldest brother, she held tight. She is the most awesome person I have ever known and a great role model for myself and others. I honor her at the Plaza of Heroines!

Submitted by Elizabeth Kay

September 16, 1998 (for Carolyn Morris Beckett)