Eugene was the second black graduate from Hackensack High School in 1915, he left college to serve in World War I. He was in his freshman year in college when he volunteered to fight. Eugene's brothers are E Frederic Morrow and William Morrow. His brother, E. Frederic Morrow, wrote about Eugene's experiences, including his enlisting into World War I, in his book called WAY DOWN SOUTH UP NORTH (copyright 1973). This book is about growing up in Hackensack, NJ at the turn of the century.When Eugene returned from World War I, he married and became a postman, and served as an employee of the Hackensack Board of Education.
Eugene Abram Morrow is buried in the Hackensack cemetery by route 4 with his wife Virginia. Written on the grave stone below him and his wife's name is PVT. U.S. Army, World War I . He was born on December 4, 1897 and died Sept. 28, 1972. His daughter Eugenie D. Morrow is also buried by them and the grave stone shows her being born in 1920 and dying in 1951. "I do not know how she died".
The material below is from the book by his brother E. Frederic Morrow, WAY DOWN SOUTH UP NORTH, copyright 1973. Eugene died in Sept. of 1972. In the book E. Frederic Morrow is explaining the current status of his family and he talks as though Eugene was still alive so apparently E. Frederic Morrow had finished the book in 1972 just before Eugene died and the copyright was not completed until 1973.
By Bob Meli January 2009
WAY DOWN SOUTH UP NORTH E. Frederic Morrow copyright 1973 EUGENE As previously mentioned, much was expected of the first child, Eugene. He made good marks in high school as he prepared for college. He was well liked by his classmates and became an effective writer and editor for the school literary magazine, The Critic. He entered New York University in a premedical course, and the future looked bright. However, World War I broke out and he left college with his classmates to play a role in that conflict. He never returned to college. A restlessness brought on by the war period, and a rush to the altar with “the one and only” closed out a promising academic career. Eugene spent the remainder of his working years as a postman and later as an employee of the Hackensack Board of Education. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of his life, besides the loss of his daughter Jean, who had trained to be a teacher, was the loss of his sight in his fifties. It cut him off from the world of books he had lived in so long, and his daily walk through the town where he had spent a lifetime. However, he and his bride of fifty years still live a life of closeness and cheerfulness in a house purchased forty years ago, close by the little family home where Gene grew up. |