Ed Morrow’s Everett legacy: carvings, philanthropy and hoops talent

EVERETT — Carver, educator, philanthropist, politician, preservationist, husband and father Ed Morrow died at Providence Regional Medical Center, just blocks from where he was raised.

Morrow was 88. He is survived by his wife Betty, son Todd, and stepson Rob Cole. Dementia set in during the last several years of his life, which were spent with Betty and among family and friends.

“He was a very gentle, kind person, and I think he really cared about other people,” Todd Morrow said.

Betty and Ed Morrow may be best known for giving away two historic buildings, one to a grant-giving nonprofit and another to a local museum.

Ed Morrow, who died Nov. 25, spent most of his life in Everett.

After college he returned to Everett for his first teaching job, which was his mother’s career, at Whittier Elementary School. Eventually he moved into administration as a principal at schools throughout the Everett School District. Morrow was known for bringing his large St. Bernard dog, Alex, to the schools where he was principal.

Larry O’Donnell, a friend and school district colleague, said Morrow worked to strengthen community ties to the schools he was in. That meant having a strong parent teacher association and community schools for adults, O’Donnell said.

“He knew how he was lucky to grow up in Everett, go to Everett High and all the traditions at Everett High,” Todd Morrow said. “I think he wanted everyone to have a fair shot, particularly when it came to education. That’s why he was proud to be a principal and an educator.”

Jack and Larry O’Donnell, who are brothers, also grew up in Everett and became friends with Ed Morrow as adults.

Larry O’Donnell, a few years younger than Morrow, first remembered hearing about and seeing his basketball talent. Morrow made the varsity team as a sophomore, a rarity at the time.

“Really, he was a hero of mine,” O’Donnell said.

Larry O’Donnell and Morrow worked together on school levies and traveled to conferences together, once taking two days to reach Spokane so they could see the sights along the way, Larry O’Donnell said.

He and Morrow also shared a love of basketball, often playing one-on-one in the back yard or facing off against each other on the YMCA court. Sometimes those backyard tilts would run a little fiery and long for their wives’ liking, but otherwise were friendly and evenly matched, Larry O’Donnell said.

“I could jump a little better, he was a little quicker,” Larry O’Donnell said. “We were both good shots, and we were both competitive.”

Jack O’Donnell and Morrow collected artifacts and relished history. They would visit antique shops to collect old postcards, including a memorable trip to a store in Tacoma where they left hauling a garbage bag full of them.

Todd Morrow similarly recalled his dad’s love of antiques.

“I remember as a kid him always collecting these things and wondering, ‘Why the heck do you have this stuff?’” he said. “I thought it was junk.”

Ed Morrow bought an old dentist’s chair at a north Everett estate sale. The O’Donnells helped him haul out and load the cumbersome seat into a car before stashing it in the basement of the Morrows’ historic home on 22nd Street and Colby Avenue.

Larry O’Donnell, Morrow and other retired school administrators regularly gathered for poker nights. Morrow played tight and didn’t take chances, the O’Donnells said.

“If I raised a nickel, he folded,” Jack O’Donnell said.

“If someone lost 95 cents, that was a catastrophe,” Larry O’Donnell said.

The Morrows spent summers at their beach cabin on Samish Island, inviting friends and enmeshing into the small community there. Ed Morrow often marched in the Independence Day parade there, just as he did in the Salty Sea Days parade in Everett where he was known for donning a gorilla costume.

Early retirement led Morrow to politics, where he served two terms on the Everett City Council and one as a Port of Everett commissioner. His first council race slogan was “Move to Morrow,” said Larry O’Donnell who served as his campaign treasurer.

Getting the city to treat its water supply with fluoride, a mineral that prevents tooth decay, was his most proud political accomplishment, Todd Morrow said.

“As a principal, he saw so many kids whose teeth were not good because they didn’t have fluoride in the water,” Todd Morrow said.

The Morrows garnered awards and honors over the past two decades for their work on historic preservation.

In 2002, the Morrows gave their 1914-built home, known as the Van Valey House at 2130 Colby Ave., to the City of Everett. Following a stipulation in the contract, the city in 2021 gave it to the Everett Museum of History. The house museum opened in October honoring its former owners and local annals with the displays.

In 2007, the Morrows gave the building at 2823 Rockefeller Ave., now called the Morrow Building, to the Community Foundation of Snohomish County.

Ed Morrow was part of the panel that awarded the Gertrude Jackson Memorial Scholarship, named for U.S. Senator Henry M. Jackson’s sister who taught for over four decades at Garfield Elementary School in Everett.

The Morrows led fundraising for a statue of Mike Jordan, a dance instructor and Everett High classmate of Ed’s, installed in 2006 along Wetmore Avenue near the Everett Performing Arts Center.

Wood carving became a regular hobby for Morrow in the late 1960s. He made hundreds of figures he would give as gifts. Some are on display at the Van Valey House museum.

One carving stands out for Larry O’Donnell, a seagull Morrow made for him in honor of their beloved school’s mascot. He keeps the white-and-gray feathered figure perched atop a piece of driftwood, with a note from Morrow on the bottom in his bedroom.

“I really treasure that,” Larry O’Donnell said.

Ben Watanabe: 425-339-3037; bwatanabe@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @benwatanabe.