According to her pastor Rev. David Kratz, longtime Fauntleroy resident Myrtle Elizabeth (Beth) Hedges Morse was “a great person in her own quiet way. She wasn’t a headline grabber.”

She was not always quiet, however, as she volunteered to play piano at age 95 for the children’s music program at Fauntleroy Church, United Church of Christ, where she was very active until her death, Jan. 21. She was 102.

“She didn’t dwell on herself,” recalled Rev. David Kratz, who gave the prayer of invocation at her worship service.

“You’d visit her and end up talking about your own family,” added Kratz. He said she did not dwell on her own aches and pains.

“I can’t tell you how impressive she was.,” he continued. “During Bible study last Christmas she was still grappling with how we can (better) protect our children from war, and from class warfare. She was still very sensitive to the suffering of others.”

Morse’s grandson, Jevon Powell, said, “I wrote this to read at her worship service, ‘Beth was a gatherer. She gathered people to her. Her great strength was her ability to care for so many people and to take them into her heart without judgment or reserve.’ As a psychologist I kind of thought about these things, about what to write, beforehand.”

Added Powell, “She had a great quality of life. It wasn’t like she was taken from us too young.”

Morse was born July 1, 1906, in Alstown, Eastern Washington. She graduated with a B.A. at the University of Washington School of Music in 1928. Her mother also attended the university.

For her service, Morse’s daughter’s, Alice Morse Powell and Virginia (Ginger) Morse Bievenour wrote that her piano playing accompanied silent films at her small-town movie theater, and that her mother was born and raised on a family farm on what is now Second Avenue and Union Street.

Morse’s husband of 72 years, Roy, died in 2002. She then moved from their Fauntleroy Avenue house they built in 1950 to the Kenney Home. Jevon and his wife then moved into the Morse’s house where they are now raising twin sons.

“She loved plants so much,” said Powell. “She knew them so well that even as she was becoming blind she could still identify all the plants by feel and location in the house.”

Although she died shortly after midnight Jan. 21, her grandson said he spent her last full day with her at Highline Medical Center.

“It was January 20, and we sat together and watched the inauguration of President Obama,” he said. “She was alert as ever and commented how wonderful it was that she lived long enough to see a black man in the White House.”