[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 108 (Friday, July 17, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        TRIBUTE TO BOB MORRISON

                                 ______
                                 



                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 17, 2009

  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise in tribute to an old 
friend and long-time public servant, Hugh Robert ``Bob'' Morrison, who 
served as the elected Treasurer of the City of Falls Church, Virginia 
from 1993-2006. In the cause of full dislosure, Bob was also the 
Treasurer of my election campaign. Bob was the epitome of a public 
citizen, a husband and father who served his community in public 
office, but also helped to create his and our community of Falls Church 
through his professional and volunteer services and commitments--
despite multiple battles with cancer to which he finally succumbed this 
week.
  One of the attributes of this remarkable leader was how he used the 
skills he learned in his youth and his service to our country to 
benefit our community in Northern Virginia.
  In his freshman year in high school, Bob took a course in printing. 
He gained a skill that he applied throughout his life and made him 
instrumental in the planning and establishment of the Falls Church 
News-Press in 1991. Bob worked closely with editor and owner Nicholas 
F. Benton to create the first successful newspaper to serve Falls 
Church. Similarly, it was about this time that he discovered 
photography, a passion that never left him, but has surely enriched all 
the rest of us.
  In 1961, Bob enlisted in the U.S. Army. After training, he was 
assigned to a NATO support base in Fontainebleau, France, where his 
duties included post photographer. It was in France that Bob met a 
fellow American whom he married; they had a son before they divorced.
  After his honorable discharge in 1964, Bob moved to this region, 
Takoma Park in Washington, D.C., where he enrolled at Howard University 
and, to help support his child and pay his tuition, answered an ad in 
The Washington Post for a night job as a page layout technician with 
the National Geographic Society--a position where he worked full time 
from 5 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. in page layout then as proofreader for five 
years, going to classes during the day.
  He graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, 
majoring in English and minoring in philosophy, in June of 1969. Armed 
with his degree, he successfully applied to an opening as a writer for 
National Geographic. Bob's first byline came two years later with an 
essay on the urban environment for an ecology book. It was followed by 
seven more National Geographic books for which Bob was a contributing 
author. He also co-authored America's Atlantic Isles. His assignments 
took him to the Caribbean, several European countries, and 48 states. 
(He missed Alaska and South Dakota, which he later visited.)
  Bob's achievements and tenacity were recognized with his name on the 
National Geographic Society's masthead. He was said to have been one of 
the youngest ever to achieve such an honor. He also served as managing 
editor for Educational Filmstrips, edited the questions for the first 
National Geography Bee, and brought the first IBM-PCs and Macs to 
National Geographic word processing, layout, and other editorial uses.
  In 1971 Morrison sold a photo to the Society that ran as a full page 
in a book. He decided to use the unexpected windfall toward buying a 
kilt and looked for places to wear it, so happening onto Scottish 
Country Dancing. That soon became a hobby, with lasting consequences. 
It was through this new hobby that he met Meredith. Their friendship 
deepened, and they were married in 1979.
  Bob and Meredith went from country Scottish dancing to foster 
parenting training, after which they began providing temporary care for 
infants. In 1988 a little rascal arrived who grabbed their hearts, and 
they adopted Justin in 1991. Justin needed a sister. Elizabeth was a 
bundle of joy with a will of iron, and she was adopted in 1992. One of 
the great blessings that came from their adoption was being led to 
Galloway United Methodist Church, where Morrison served on the Finance 
Committee for many years and learned the skills that made him such a 
successful public elected official later on. Bob also became active 
with Falls Church Community TV, in recognition of which he was 
appointed to the Board of Directors of The Falls Church Cable Access 
Corporation and served there for 19 years.
  All these activities whetted his interest in serving in public 
office. He had been active in Democratic politics and began to look for 
an entry to public service. He defeated three other candidates in his 
first campaign, and he was unopposed in the next three--so appreciated 
was his service.
  He continued his longtime hobby of photography after he retired from 
the Treasurer's Office in 2006, taking the time to take thousands of 
pictures in his community. He especially enjoyed shooting sports; his 
Web site has more than 10,000 pictures of George Mason High School 
activities, mostly of football and basketball. He served as an official 
photographer for The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, the Capital 
Fringe Festival, and the DC Divas. Some of these jobs came from friends 
made at TIVA, an area association of independent video and film 
professionals, where he served on the Board of Directors for several 
years. He volunteered often at DC Central Kitchen, photographing their 
Capital Food Fight, and received their Volunteer of the Year award in 
2005. Morrison was especially proud of his contributions to their 
cookbook, Feeding the Soul of the City. He also worked as a publicity 
agent and set photographer. After he finished photography on Come What 
May, the producer asked him to play the role of a retired Supreme Court 
Justice, for which he received his first and only screen acting 
credits.
  In 2006, he was diagnosed with colon cancer, which prompted his 
retirement as Falls Church's Treasurer and this week took him from us. 
But he has left a legacy which, like his tens of thousands of 
photographs, will keep him in our hearts forever. His multiple talents 
and convictions made him a servant to the people of our region, and he 
left us all richer for many, many contributions.

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