Judy Kazan Morris

Morris

Judy Kazan Morris

August 2, 1936 - November 21, 2023



Judy Kazan Morris, a longtime resident of Dupont Circle, was born August 2,1936, in South Orange, NJ. She was predeceased by her parents, Molly Day Thacher Kazan and Elia Kazan; Jonas Morris, her husband of 53 years; her brother, Chris Kazan, and his son Nick Kazan.



Judy grew up in New York City and was educated at The Dalton School and Swarthmore College. In 1958, after graduation, she moved to Washington, DC to work in journalism. She began at the Congressional Quarterly, where she met Jonas. Judy worked for a time with the Smithsonian Resident Puppet Theater, writing puppet shows. She helped elementary students in the DC Public School system learn to write, and taught adults at the Bethesda Writers Center. Judy spent many years writing novels for young teens and had four books published.



In the early 1960s, Judy and Jonas purchased land in Glengary, West Virginia, where they spent most weekends, and often weeks in the summer, over the next 45 years. Judy loved chopping wood, hunting for fossils and animal bones, planting vegetables and flowers, and exploring the woods with her children and then her grandchildren. She was always curious and interested in learning something new, and delighted in the wonders of nature and science, notably elephants, trees, and fossils.



Judy was a deeply political person, involved at the grassroots level in many local and state campaigns. She worked at Planned Parenthood, Zero Population Growth and Preterm, DC's first abortion clinic. Her name was on the DC ballot to be a delegate for Ted Kennedy at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.



An avid reader until her death, Judy loved poetry (Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot), plays (Shakespeare and August Wilson), biographies (Jackie Robinson, Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln), and the work of Mark Twain. She was a proud holder of her DC Public Library card.



Judy is survived by her two children, Hugh Morris (Tania Lee) and Willa Day Morris (Chapman Todd), and four beloved grandchildren, Jackson Day Todd, Naomi Day Todd, Penelope Day Morris, and Gwendolyn Day Morris; her brother Nick Kazan (Robin Swicord) and her sister Katie Kazan (Dan Slick); her sister-in-law Barbara Morris Dickey the late Tom Dickey); and six cherished nieces.



She donated her body to the School of Medicine & Health Sciences at the George Washington University. A private service is scheduled for a later date.