Thomas Christopher Morrow

1950 - 2017

Morrow, Thomas Christopher
Beloved father and grandfather, devoted son, brother, and friend, gifted artisan, teacher and storyteller, Thomas Christopher Morrow died on Tuesday, December 19 of complications from Multiple Sclerosis which he battled and endured with grace and stoicism for almost 50 years.
Tom spent his early childhood in West Barrington, and attended the Gordon School in East Providence, where his mother taught fifth grade. His family moved when he was 12 and Tom would go on to live in Garden City, NY, and then for many years in Freedom, NH, where he raised his family and kept his workshop. He died at 67 in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, where he moved about 15 years ago to be nearer his parents.
Tom's life was rich in love and accomplishment; also challenges that would have stopped many. He was a surpassingly gifted gunsmith. In his hands, a block of hardwood would yield its beauty and, soon enough, an heirloom piece would take form. He was also an artist in words, a storyteller of great range, emotion and humor, with a memory that could summon hundreds of tales, from literature, folklore and his own invention, not to mention thousands of lines of verse and hundreds of limericks, not all for polite company.
The son of Winston V. and Margaret S. Morrow, he was born in Cambridge, MA, in 1950, where his father was attending law school and his mother, teaching school. He entered Williams College with the class of 1972, but his tenure there was interrupted early on by the first devastating onslaught of Multiple Sclerosis. He rallied as he so often would over the disease's long course
After graduating from Williams and then the Colorado School of Trades, he worked for Griffin & Howe, the renowned maker of handcrafted, classic firearms for Abercrombie & Fitch. After Abercrombie sold the business in 1976, Tom took his craft and family to Freedom, a little town near the Maine border where his family had summered during his childhood.
Tom's talent and reputation drew a far-flung clientele among connoisseurs and collectors. He was a true scholar of the history and technical evolution of firearms from an early age, and treated his craft as a calling. He would not let his encroaching disability deter him. Even after MS had robbed him of much of his eyesight, Tom kept at it, working by feel until it was no longer safe to do so.
He and his then-wife, Lorraine Bogart Morrow, had two sons: Thomas Christian, born in 1978, and Winston Vaughn Morrow III, born in 1980. Both were then and always his joy and pride, and the stories they shared as a trio tended to high hilarity, liberal profanity, and a shared love of the outdoors.
After he and his wife divorced in 2001, Tom relocated to a coastal community south of downtown Los Angeles, to live first with his mother and then, as his health slowly declined, in a nearby assisted living center.
The walls of Tom's room in Rancho Palos Verdes were thick with pictures of his children and grandchildren, and of his extended family. He was devoted to them all and, in his last years lived in anticipation of his annual trip east to Freedom to renew old bonds. Hearing that Tom Morrow was in town, friends would stream in to visit, share stories, and often be treated to an impromptu poetry recitation.
In addition to his sons, Tom is survived by his father, Winton Vaughn Morrow Jr.; his brother Mark; and his grandchildren: Russell, Maria, Lily, Hadley, Daniel, Abigail, Rosalie, and Snow.
He also has extended family living in Rhode Island, including, especially, his dear Aunt Mary Staples.
Tom is to be buried in Freedom's Towle Cemetery, next to his mother and near his daughter Elizabeth Greer who died in infancy. His life will be celebrated with a Memorial Service in Freedom this spring, on a date to be announced. In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society or to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.