Dr. LaRona J. Walls (Morris) was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1942. She graduated from East St. Louis Senior High School in Illinois in 1960. After graduation, she attended Mildred Louise Business College. (Dr. Mildred Louise Sammons, the founder of the East Saint Louis institution was also a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.). With her skills from the business certificate, she took a job at Scott Air Force Base. In 1962, she married Oreido Morris. They became the parents of three children.
In 1970, as a young mother, she enrolled at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and earned a bachelor’s in 1973 and master’s degree two years later. She also joined the Gamma Beta chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. at SIUE in 1970. Morris quickly became a leader in the sorority and she served at the regional level and received national attention.
Morris and her sister, Stephanie Carpenter, enrolled in the doctoral program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Night classes were offered to doctoral students, and they would leave work in the metro St. Louis area and travel east for an hour and then head south for another hour to get to the evening classes. After class, they would head back, driving in the dark and getting home very late. They both earned their doctorates in 1988.
From 1996-2000, Morris was the 18th Grand Basileus (President) of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. She created Operation Book Bag, which provides school supplies to those who need them. She also established the nationwide Youth Symposium to address the problems affecting young people.
Morris spent the majority of her career in education. For 13 years she was Special Assistant to the St. Clair County (IL) Regional Superintendent of Schools. She was assistant principal and principal of Edward R. Wirth Middle School in Cakohia, Illinois. She became principal of Clark Middle School in September 2003. She also served on the East St. Louis Board of Education and resigned when she took a position as assistant principal of her alma mater, East St. Louis Senior High School.
In addition to her sorority activities, Morris was a member of the St. Louis chapter of MENSA and was active in many other community and professional organizations.
Morris died of lung cancer on July 1, 2005, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. She was 62 years old.
On October 12, 2007, the Dr. LaRona J. Morris Library at Mason-Clark Middle School in East St. Louis was dedicated. The effort was led by the Alpha Upsilon Sigma chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. On the occasion of the sorority’s 100th anniversary, a rededication ceremony was held in November of 2022.
