By Martie Thompson
editor@floridanewsline.com
Bill Morrow is a fifth generation Mandarin resident — and if you count his two grandchildren who live nearby, there are seven generations who have lived here. His grandmother was born in the John Henry Jacks house on Mandarin Road, which is where his great and great great grandparents lived. It’s a rich family history, one that he recently shared in a Third Thursday Lecture at the Mandarin Museum and Historical Society. Morrow and his wife Judith have lived on Mandarin Road in a house partially built by his grandmother for the past 40 years. He said it’s the home he and his identical twin brother Cary were brought to from the hospital after birth. He attended Loretto School and then graduated from DuPont Junior/Senior High School before getting a pre med degree from the University of North Carolina. He went to medical school at the University of Tulane, interned in Kansas City, Missouri and spent two years in the Army at Fort Hood, Texas before moving back to Mandarin. His practice specialty was radiology until his retirement in the early 2000s.
Q: What can you tell us about the home you currently live in?
A: The home was built on some family property right after World War II. Building materials at the time were scarce, so my grandmother found an old farmhouse just north of Goodby’s Lake and had it dismantled. They even straightened the nails for reuse. They transported all these supplies to Mandarin. She bought a house plan from Montgomery Ward and that’s the house they built with the farmhouse materials. Part of that original house is still incorporated into our house today, although my parents added on to it once and my wife and I added on twice.
Q: How did you meet your wife?
A: We met while I was still in medical school and we were introduced by friends. She was an x-ray tech at Baptist Hospital. She moved all over with me for my medical career and raised our three children.
Q: What do you see as the biggest change in Mandarin as someone who has lived on Mandarin Road for more than 40 years?
A: The biggest change is the traffic, far and away. Sometimes I sit in my driveway trying to get out and have to wait for 20 cars to pass. In the past, we wouldn’t see a car go by for more than five minutes.
Q: What do you enjoy doing in your retirement?
A: We keep busy with our five grandchildren; two live locally. We also travel when we can. We’ve been to the Arctic, Greenland, and the South Georgia Islands in the Southern Ocean. We shared an island there with 20,000 penguins in the breeding through hatching stages. We also enjoy traveling to the British Isles and have taken several river cruises in Europe.
I like to scuba dive around the world and have been to Truk Lagoon, where the Japanese fleet was sunk in World War II, as well as Palau, Indonesia, and the Caribbean. Judith is a fearless snorkeler who doesn’t shy away from sharks.
Also, we’re very involved with our church, the Episcopal Church of our Saviour. We were married there in 1967 and I was baptized there when I was six months old.
Q: How would you describe yourself?
A: I describe myself as a River Rat. My brother Cary and I practically lived in the river growing up. Close family friends taught us how to shrimp, and mend shrimp nets and row a boat. We spent hours collecting “treasures” along the shore. I still enjoy fishing.
Photo courtesy Bill Morrow
Bill Morrow
