School History
Who is Barbara Comstock Morse?
Who is Barbara Comstock Morse?
Who is Barbara Comstock Morse?
Barbara Comstock Morse was born in Palermo, Butte County, California on November 20, 1891. She had one sister and three brothers. The family moved to Sacramento where she grew up and attended school. She graduated from the ninth grade and then went to work. She worked in Libbys Cannery when most everything was done by hand. She later worked in a candy store and a bakery where she rode her bicycle to work.
On February 3, 1918 she married Archie Morse who owned a farm on Bruceville Road. She had five children, four boys and one girl. When it was time for her children to attend Carroll Elementary School located on Bruceville and Lambert Roads, she became a trustee.
Because the school building was an old one-room school without plumbing, she was instrumental in the building of a new two-room school with modern conveniences.
As Clerk of the Board of Trustees she was chiefly responsible for hiring teachers and other employees, for seeing that the school was properly maintained and for making contacts with the County Superintendent of Schools Office.
In 1932, in the depth of the depression, her husband died, and she had a 1,100 acre farm to run and five young children to raise, so she no longer has as much time to devote to being a school trustee. She gave up the job after nine years of service but continued to be interested in education. She was proud of the fact that two of her children became teachers and that all of them loved to read and became well informed, as she was. She supported her children in all their activities with real interest and delighted in her grandchildren.
She taught her children the value of hard work, education, community involvement, citizenship and ethical living. She was a prime educator in her family by example and by her commitment to the principles upon which this country was established.