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- Portland Press Herald (ME)
September 5, 1994
Theo M. Morrill, 70, of 104 Bow St., a community leader for many years, died Saturday at Brighton Medical Center in Portland. She died of complications from diabetes.
Mrs. Morrill was a 4-H Club leader in Freeport for 25 years and was active in the Cumberland County 4-H Leaders Club. She was instrumental in establishing Freeport's youth recreation program in the late 1960s, a program that endures today, said her daughter, Mrs. Lloyd (Wanda) Walkup of Freeport. ''She was so proud of that,'' her daughter said. ''She started out with just a few bats, balls and $100 and worked it into a full recreation program'' with swimming lessons, crafts, sports and field trips. Her many activities with children meant that she was perpetually organizing car pools, despite the fact that she didn't drive, her daughter said.
Mrs. Morrill was active in square dancing, belonged to the Cumberland County Recreational Council's Square Dancing Club and was a charter member of the Sage Swinger Square Dancing Club. She belonged to the Wolf Neck Club, the Wolf Neck and North Yarmouth Extension groups, and the Maine Iris Society. Mrs. Morrill's creativity extended to her gardens around her home, where she grew several hundred varieties each of iris, dahlias and lilies. ''If someone in the community did not know her, they knew her house - the yellow house with the pretty gardens,'' her daughter said.
Mrs. Morrill believed that public service work made life fuller and that through it, she received as much grace and love as she gave. Of all the community projects that Mrs. Morrill undertook, she was most proud of the 10 years she spent working on the Freeport-Pownal Christmas project. ''She made a Christmas for people who otherwise wouldn't have had one,'' her daughter said. As fall approached, the Morrill house would serve as a collection center for the Christmas project, its rooms filling with gifts for poor families throughout the area and for the elderly residents of Freeport's two nursing homes. ''She tried to put together special treats and little presents for the people,'' her daughter said. ''She knew that Christmas was much more than just a pair of underwear and a nightgown.''
Mrs. Morrill was born in Bethel, a daughter of Alton and Louise (Littlefield) Paine, and graduated from Freeport High School in 1943. For nine years, she worked for Freeport Shoe.
In 1944, she married Laurice Morrill. After bringing up her children, she returned to work in 1970 as activities director at the Freeport Nursing Home. She was there for nine years.
Besides her daughter, she is survived by a second daughter, Mrs. Arthur (Brenda-Jo) Hawkes of Falmouth; a sister, Mrs. Russell (Gail) Desmer of Cundys Harbor at Harpswell; a brother, Earlon Paine of Bethel; and three grandchildren.
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1924 - 1994 (70 years)
[2, 3, 4] 
