Political and social activist, educator, husband, father, grandfather. Born Sept. 3, 1923, in Arnprior, Ont. Died July 29, 2010, in Thunder Bay, Ont., of cancer, aged 86.
If there were an Olympic gold medal for good citizenship, Ken Morrison would have won it hands down. As a political, social and religious activist, volunteer and writer of articles and letters to the editor, he took his responsibilities seriously. Soldier, communist, trade unionist, socialist, Unitarian, educator, political scientist, realtor - Ken blended all these roles into an unusual personality.
One of four children of Rev. Lloyd Morrison and Kathleen Cowan, Ken's early years were spent in Ottawa, Tweed and Kemptville, Ont.
The injustices he saw while serving in Britain during the Second World War prompted him to join the Communist Party, which led to a break with his Methodist/United Church family. He left the Labour-Progressive Party in 1956, breaking ties with many of his close friends. But he never lost his faith in socialism. In 1961, he became a founding member of the NDP in Ottawa.
Ken married Jean, whom he met in a history class at the University of Toronto, in 1948. They had three daughters: Peggy, Susan and Tanya. He taught high school in Ottawa before moving to Port Arthur, Ont., where he worked at Lakehead University from 1966 to 1973, then as a realtor and appraiser.
As an NDP activist, Ken served in many capacities from riding president to door-to-door canvasser. His commitment to other volunteer causes was just as great. His fruit and cheese sales to raise money for the Thunder Bay Symphony were legendary, reaching between $13,000 and $15,000 a year.
Ken touched the lives of people of all political stripes, religious convictions and walks of life. He unknowingly annoyed most of them, too. Ken had a persistent need to tell people not only what was wrong with the world, but what was wrong with them.
If he could be annoying, he could be equally endearing. Privately he did thoughtful things, such as walking the dog of a hospitalized friend, hiring an out-of-work actor/writer to do odd jobs and harbouring Vietnam War resisters.
Eventually Ken found his spiritual and ethical home in the Lakehead Unitarian Fellowship. He was the driving force behind its Sunday services for years.
While director of extension at Lakehead University, Ken believed the primary requirement to be a successful student was an inquiring mind. He'd ask mature applicants from outlying communities who didn't quite meet the qualifications, "Do you have a library card?" If the student answered, "Yes," Ken would reply, "You're in."
Ken cared deeply about social and economic justice, about the environment, about his fellow humans. Always questioning, he never lost faith and never gave up trying to make this a better world.
By Jim Foulds, Ken's friend.