Morris, Marcia Taber

Marcia Taber Morris

(6/30/1934-4/23/2021)

Marcia Taber Morris passed away peacefully with her family at her side early on Friday morning, April 23, 2021, at home in Fairport NY.

Marcia was born in Syracuse, N.Y., on June 30, 1934, to her parents Buritt Wellington Taber and Madaline Grady Taber, joining her older brother Thomas Wellington Taber (Warrington, P.A.).  Marcia grew up in Ithaca, N.Y., and after high school attended Syracuse University where she enrolled in a fine arts program to pursue a talent in art that she would display throughout her life.  It was at Syracuse University that Marcia met and fell for John N. Morris, the love of her life.  They would spend almost 60 years together raising their seven children, all born within the span of 14 years.

Marcia was a woman of faith.  She was a long-time member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Hamilton, N.Y., before joining Fairport’s St. John’s Church when she and her husband John relocated in 2011.  Her faith provided great guidance and comfort to her while raising seven busy children.  Marcia’s love and welcoming posture resulted in an open-door policy at her home, with family and visitors often arriving unannounced at any hour.  Marcia welcomed everyone with grace, warmth, and always offer of food, and she was fun!  The kitchen on Bonney Hill in Hamilton became a meeting place to many- a place where her family grew up together and was home to John and Marcia for nearly 40 years.

 Early family life at Cupsaw Lake in Ringwood, New Jersey was full of swimming, skating, and friends in the neighborhood.  In the midst of all this, Marcia’s art studies and work continued.  She took classes at Ringwood Manor under Ernest O. Mondorf. She expressed herself in her homes, with watercolors, acrylics, pen and ink drawings and prints. Her gardens, her houses, were her pallet and canvas with placement and color exhibiting her unique design sense.  For twenty years Marcia cut and hand-painted wooden Santa Claus figures with varied themes for all seven of her children and their families to enjoy.

After a move north in 1973 to Hamilton, New York, family time in the small town included hikes in the woods or down in the gully on Bonney Hill, as well as trips up and down the hill into the village or to the golf course.  Marcia had a life-long love of, and respect for, the natural world.  Her home was always busy with pets, and she encouraged her children to love and appreciate animals and the natural order of things.  

Marcia was a devoted and loving mother to her seven children, and is survived by; John (Nancy Burch), Michael (Tina Reising), Mary (Keith Hyde), Madaline (Paul Howes), Megan (Burt Marshall), William (Amy D’Antonio) and James (Tracey Gillis).  These children gave Marcia 22 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren!  She generated and nurtured a loving and supportive family, and she will be sorely missed.  A Funeral Mass for Marcia will be celebrated on Saturday, June 26th, at 9:30am at St. John’s of Rochester followed by a burial service at St. Mary’s Cemetery in DeWitt, N.Y., at 1:00pm.  In lieu of flowers, a donation in Marcia’s name could be made to the animal shelter at Wander’s Rest, 7138 Sutherland Dr., P.O.Box 535, Canastota, NY 13032.