Morris N. Abrams

Morris N. Abrams Hall at Louisiana State University at Alexandria is named for Morris Newton Abrams, a native of Winnfield, who was the dean of LSU-A from 1962 until his death in 1975.

Morris Newton Abrams (November 30, 1919 – December 11, 1975) was a Louisiana educator who specialized in the field of vocational education.

Abrams was born in Winnfield, the seat of Winn Parish in north Louisiana, a son of William Charles Abrams (1889–1945) and the former Cora Bell Sowers (1892–1963). He was educated in the public schools in rural Sikes in Winn Parish. He thereafter received his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.^[1]

On February 1, 1941, Abrams married the former Minnie Louise DeLee (1919–2001)^[2] of Clinton in East Feliciana Parish, one of the Louisiana Florida Parishes. Their children are Carolyn Sue Reece (born 1942), Marcia Diane Cox (born 1951), Doris Celeste Hay (born 1952), and Candice Louise Thibodeaux (born 1957).^[1]

Abrams' first teaching assignment was at Friendship High School in the Friendship community of Bienville Parish. He soon moved to Winnfield High School, since Winnfield Senior High School, where he was a faculty member from 1940-1944. He left teaching temporarily to serve in the Third Armored Division of the United States Army in World War II.^[1] He reached the rank of master sergeant.^[2] The division had been activated in 1941 at Camp Beauregard near Pineville, Louisiana.

From 1950-1955, he was an associate professor of agricultural education at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. In 1955, Abrams returned to Winnfield to serve a year as the Winn Parish school superintendent. Then, from 1956–1960, he was professor of vocational agricultural education at his alma mater, LSU. He was from 1960-1962 the director of the LSU School of Vocational Education.^[1]

In 1962, Abrams relocated to Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city in Central Louisiana, to become dean of the Louisiana State University at Alexandria two-year campus,^[3] his final position, which ended with his death. Much later, LSU-A in 2002 became a four-year institution. Abrams received various awards in his field of educational specialization. He was a member of Phi Delta Kappa, Alpha Zeta, and Alpha Tau Alpha.^[1]

Abrams died at the age of fifty-six in Clinton and is interred beside his wife at Clear Creek Methodist Church Cemetery in Felixville in East Feliciana Parish.^[2][4]

Morris Abrams Hall at LSU-A is named in his honor.^[5] There is also a Morris N. Abrams Scholarship available to full-time students who are dependents of LSU-A faculty or staff.^[6]

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