The Highlander - Morris Aaron Fry July 12, 1914 ~ Sept. 26, 2012

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Morris Aaron Fry July 12, 1914 ~ Sept. 26, 2012

September 19, 2012, 9:00 am by Staff Reports

Morris Aaron Fry, 98, passed away on Sept. 26. Morris, who was born on July 12, 1914 to William Johnston Fry and Ethyl Anderson Cox Fry, was the third of eight children. He had five brothers and two sisters. Morris spent his boyhood years in Burnet, where he enjoyed hunting, fishing and roaming the land. He never lost his love for the Burnet area, and always thought of it as home.
Morris attended Abilene Christian College and the University of Texas, where he met Tillie Badu Moss from Llano. Morris and Tillie married and both taught school until World War II began. Morris was a true patriot and promptly enlisted in the Marine Corps. He saw combat in several of the most bitter campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, where he served with distinction, rose to the rank of Master Sergeant, and was awarded a Bronze Star for Valor. While he was in the service, a son Morris A. (Mike) Fry. Jr. was born.
After the war, Morris worked for the U.S. Geological Survey, and later returned to school earning a Masters Degree. Sadly, Tillie died in February 1965. Soon afterward, he became a Math professor at the Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos where he remained until he retired in 1981.
In December 1965, Morris married Ella Virginia Greer of Marshall, Texas. After several years they bought a ranch near San Marcos, where they lived until 1996 when they moved back to his beloved Burnet. They had been married for 40 years when Virginia passed away in July 2005.
In 1966 Morris and Virginia became close friends with one of his students, Janice Kelley Costa, a friendship that has lasted ever since. In 1994, the Frys asked Janice to be the daughter they never had and to be responsible for their well being once they became elderly and needed help, which she has lovingly done.
In 2000, Morris and Virginia moved to the Pafford Place Assisted living facility in Burnet, where he enjoyed living for the rest of his life. At Pafford Place, Morris was well liked and highly respected and was affectionately referred to as "Grandpa Fry.” He was a faithful Christian and a member of the Vanderveer Street Church of Christ. But above all, Morris loved God, his family, his county, and his many friends.
He is survived by his sister Peggy Fry Smith of Burnet; son Mike; daughter Janice; grandson Sean Kelley; granddaughter Tamara Kelley Griepp; six great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews. A funeral service was held on Saturday at the Vanderveer Street Church of Christ with burial in his family gravesite in the Llano City Cemetery.
Arrangements by Clements-Wilcox Funeral Home in Burnet, Texas.