Ellyn Elizabeth Morrison

Ellyn Elizabeth (Oakdale) Morrison
Ellyn Elizabeth (Oakdale) Morrison was born September 4, 1947, in Oak Park, Illinois, and passed away July 31, 2022, in Kenwood, CA, after a decades-long battle with Parkinson's disease. She is survived by her husband of 41 years, Ian Morrison, and will be greatly missed by her sister Suzanne Oakdale, her daughters Emily and Elizabeth Dinwoodie, brothers Roger and Ray Oakdale, and their respective children, as well as her step-daughter Yedda Morrison and her daughter Eve.
She will be fondly remembered as an educator and artist by the families of Kindergarten students whose lives she enhanced. She encouraged children to experience the world through creative play, which she knew to be an important part of early childhood education.
Raised in Park Ridge, IL, she graduated from Maine South High School (1965) and from the University of Wisconsin (BS 1969), where she studied art. After furthering her art training in Venice, Italy, she returned to receive a teaching credential in 1970. Her early teaching years were spent as an art teacher in Vermont public schools. Then, from 1977-80 she studied to become a Waldorf Kindergarten teacher at Emerson College in England. She began her kindergarten teaching career in Marin from 1980-1982 before moving on to Summerfield Waldorf School in Santa Rosa, where she retired in 2009.
Ellyn was a talented seamstress and could make beautiful clothing as well as hats, costumes, and scenery for plays and puppet shows. She loved the outdoors, where she would camp, hike, and sketch from nature. She grew beautiful roses and enjoyed helping in the family vineyard. Everyone admired the grace, kindness, and courage with which she lived her life.
As a remembrance of her dedication to children, a donation in her honor can be made to Laluzcenter.org in Sonoma Valley, which serves Latino children in our community.