SUU to Lives Service and Involvement

Clair and Suzanne Morris have lived lives of singular service and sterling consequence in Cedar City and the greater world, and in doing so have always championed Southern Utah University and its students. Their presence in our midst has greatly contributed to the quality of life here.

Clair, born in 1932 in Parowan, grew up working on the family farm and was an eminent champion at marbles, winning a bounty of some 20 marbles a day at “keepsies.” To this day he maintains an immense collection of his winnings. At Parowan High, he was a multi-sport athlete and student body president, went on to the College of Southern Utah (SUU), and in 1954 began a 33-year career in education that began with him teaching and serving as principal in a variety of schools. Those included several of Iron County’s elementary schools and BYU’s laboratory school as well as Cedar High. He spent a year at SUSC working in student services before beginning an 18-year career as superintendent of Iron County schools and is most proud of his championing of individualized instruction in the district. He earned a master’s degree from USU and a doctorate from BYU.

Suzanne Cardon Morris, while born in Logan, grew up in Cedar City and was an active student at Cedar High. She enjoyed journeying to Parowan’s Brown Derby roller rink, where she made a few turns around the rink with a local boy named Clair, and the two were married on September 7, 1951, a few months after she graduated from high school, and have now been married for nearly 67 years. She and Clair raised four children (and now have 19 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren) and in 1971, Suzanne earned a bachelor’s degree in business education, and taught at Cedar High and Junior High. She subsequently became the secretary of SUSC Dean of Education A.W. Stephenson, and later embarked on a new career as among the first two-full-time employees of the Utah Shakespeare Festival as administrative assistant to Fred Adams and then as a stalwart of the finance area of the festival where she was a pivotal figure in the vaunted program’s growth.

In retirement, the Morrises run their farm, which they purchased from Clair’s father in 1977, and produce some 300 tons of hay per year. Highly active in University activities, they enjoy Thunderbird sports as well as campus cultural events. Clair served a year as president of the Alumni Association and each makes a decided contribution to the success of the SUU Emeriti Association. The couple served an LDS mission to Vladivostok, Russia, in 1995. They are proud of the fact that three of their children have graduated from SUU, that many of their grandchildren have attended, and that they now have a great-grandchild who is a Thunderbird.

The Morrises were presented with the Carmen Rose Hepworth Alumni Award during the 2018 Thunderbird Awards Ceremony.