{"id":4348,"date":"2011-08-02T08:20:04","date_gmt":"2011-08-02T15:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/?p=4348"},"modified":"2011-08-02T08:20:04","modified_gmt":"2011-08-02T15:20:04","slug":"older-american-parade-grand-marshal-midge-morash-passes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/?p=4348","title":{"rendered":"Older American, Parade Grand Marshal Midge Morash Passes"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Susan Henderson<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Midge Morash, photo by Susan Henderson<\/p><\/div>\n

On Saturday, July 23, 2011, Midge Morash, one of the most loved, admired, and cherished residents of Sierra Madre passed away.\u00a0 At age 88, she had struggled in recent months with her health.<\/p>\n

Midge was affectionately known as \u201cMother Nature\u201d in environmental circles because of her commitment to protecting the earth, especially Bailey Canyon. In fact, she was instrumental in developing the first trails at Bailey Canyon Park in the 60\u2019s.<\/div>\n
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Midge was honored by the city for her work as the developer of the Nature Awareness Program more than\u00a0 30 years ago.\u00a0 That program included field trips once a year for all third graders in town,\u00a0 and\u00a0recruiting and training docents for the program.<\/div>\n
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She was one of the founders of the Sierra Madre Environmental Action Council (SMEAC) in 1972 and designed three of their brochures\u00a0 and helped develop information for the kiosk at Bailey Canyon.\u00a0 She also devised a trail guide for Live Oak Nature Trail and Canyon View Nature Trail in Bailey Canyon, with assistance from\u00a0Eaton Canyon Nature Center.<\/div>\n
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For several years, along with her volunteer work, she was lab technician at the hospital when it was located in town.<\/div>\n
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In an interview with Midge two years ago,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0she said her focus has forever been on nature. \u201cI have a passion for nature and teaching others about nature. Kids have to learn respect for nature and the knowledge of the environment, and to live respectfully.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Midge and her husband Tal, who preceded her in death, were the parents of four children. Tal passed away in 1988 and their son John also passed away.\u00a0 She is survived by two daughters, Kim Lazaro of Poway and Anne Johnson of Rancho Cucamonga and a son, Paul Morash of Evanston, Wyoming.\u00a0 \u00a0When the Morash children were small, she also volunteered \u201cin all the usual school functions\u201d and was a leader for Brownie and Girl Scout troops for years.<\/div>\n
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The recipient of numerous awards and honors over the years, in 2009, she was the Sierra Madre 4th of July Parade Grand Marshal.\u00a0 In 2000, she was the<\/strong> Sierra Madre Older American of the Year<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 In 2004, she was honored by the City Council<\/a><\/strong> for years of dedication to the wilderness.\u00a0 In 2003, at the age of 80, Morash was part of a group that planted a tree at Bailey Canyon for Arbor Day<\/a><\/strong>, near a rock dedicated with a plaque in\u00a0 honor of her late husband, Tal.<\/div>\n
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\u201cA True Renaissance Woman\u201d<\/strong><\/div>\n
Her dear friend Fran Garbaccio described Midge as a \u201ctrue renaissance woman\u201d, because of her many talents.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For, in addition to the countless volunteer hours spent protecting, nurturing and teaching, Midge was an incredible artist.\u00a0 Her Sierra Madre home, and later her home at The Oaks in Pasadena, was filled with her creations.<\/div>\n
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On February 13, 2009, Midge fell and broke her pelvis, and shortly thereafter\u00a0 moved to The Oaks in Pasadena, her residence at the time of her death.<\/div>\n
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Services for Midge will be held on August 27, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. at the Sierra Madre United Methodist Church.\u00a0 Rev. Mark Trotter will preside.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Susan Henderson On Saturday, July 23, 2011, Midge Morash, one of the most loved, admired, and cherished residents of Sierra Madre passed away.\u00a0 At age 88, she had struggled in recent months with her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40,7],"tags":[118],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4348"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}