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Two McKenzie High Students Receive Full Scholarships

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Two McKenzie High School seniors were honored with the Ray and Linda Morris Scholarship last week. This scholarship is awarded to students who have shown strong academic abilities and achieved a high ACT composite score and majoring in Nursing, Math or Biology. This scholarship covers full tuition for four years. Congratulations to Raina Jones and Isabelle Wright. The two students are pictured with their parents.

Ray Morris was born near Yuma, Tennessee and moved to McKenzie as a young man. He lamented he had moved to the city and for the first time, lived in a house with electricity and running water. He and his siblings worked the family farm in McKenzie.

He graduated McKenzie High School, worked at the ‘Pajama Factory’, joined the National Guard, attended Bethel University and received an engineering degree from Tennessee Tech. During the summers, he and high school friend, Charlie Cox, sold Bibles via door-to-door sales.

Ray started Venture Construction in Georgia. It grew to a multi-million dollar company and was contracted to build many McDonald’s restaurants. He contributed to Bethel University and Morris Hall was named in he and his brothers’ honor. Later, Ray and wife, Linda contributed to Bethel and the Ray and Linda Morris Science Building was constructed in their honor. Venture Construction was contracted to build the newest dorms and the Vera Low Center for Student Enrichment on the campus of Bethel University.

Ray also donated land to the City of McKenzie for the construction of a fire station near McKenzie High School and donated the vacant land to McKenzie Industrial Board across from McKenzie High School.

After a football reunion in the late 1980s, Charlie Cox of Boston, visited McKenzie High School and donated $100,000 to McKenzie High School. Charlie grew up poor and lived with various families in McKenzie. He never forgot that generosity.

The two friends remain loyal supporters of McKenzie and the youth of McKenzie.