Martha Ann Morey (nee Ballew)

Martha Ann Morey, nee Ballew, 94 of Murphysboro, passed away, Tuesday, February 6, 2018 in Sunrise of Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona. She was born in Lake Wales, Florida August 8, 1923 to Myrtle Manora (Cummings) Ballew and Rev. Marvin C. Ballew. Her father was a Free Methodist minister who traveled the coast from Florida to Georgia, moving from one poverty-stricken parish to another during most of her childhood. Mart left home at age 15, finishing her last year of high school and her first year of college at the same time at Chesbrough Seminary (now Roberts Wesleyan College), a Free Methodist school, Rochester, New York. She met her husband of 70 years, Donald F. Morey, at Chesbrough. She graduated from Greenville College, and he from Seattle Pacific College, and they were married upon his return from service in WW II. She earned her Master's degree in Genetics under the direction of Dr. Curt Stern at the University of Rochester as a member of the Manhattan Project team that described mutation rates in animals exposed to radiation. Late in her life she resumed her genetic interests, and wrote a paper that pinpointed a major gene locus for limb development on chromosome 7. During a time when professional aspirations were not encouraged for women, she persisted in expressing her lively intelligence and thirst to understand. Mart was a founder of The Swing Set Day Care Center at the Liberty Christian Church, which flourishes 40 years later in Liberty, Missouri. She wrote poetry, and was published in a number of literary journals and extra-literary venues, including having a haiku published in the Japan Sun Times. After her children were launched, she completed a nursing degree and also became a genetic counselor at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO. In her retirement, she returned to writing and gardening. She loved the natural world, and had a scientist's eye for detail and precision observation, a quality reflected in her writing. She married Donald F. Morey September 5, 1946 and he preceded her in death on July 20, 2016. Mart leaves three children all of whom benefited from her commitment to education: Dr. Ann-Janine Morey (Dr. Todd Hedinger) of Harrisonburg, VA; Dr. Noralane (Laney) Lindor (Dr. Keith Lindor) of Paradise Valley, Arizona, and Dr. Darcy Morey of Radford, Virginia, and four grandchildren, CJ Lindor of Minneapolis, MN; Dr. Rachel Lindor of Rochester, Minnesota (Dr. Michael Keeney); Lucia Rose Morey of Fredericksburg, VA, and Gabriel Todd Morey, Alexandria, VA. Cremation has been accorded and a private inurnment was at Pleasant Grove Memorial Park. Crain Pleasant Grove-Murdale Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Martha Ann Morey (nee Ballew)

August 8, 1923 - February 6, 2018