Victory Park Thrives under Watchful Eye of 90-Year-Old Neighbor

Lois Morrison has stood watch over Victory Park for more than five decades, back to the time when the then-undeveloped four acres of land was known simply as “the park with the creek.”

 And as the sentry of the park in the heart of Marietta, Morrison, 90, greeted the volunteers and offered tips and some history lessons during a Marietta Tree Keepers planting on a brisk Saturday morning in February.

 "Preserving nature and being an active part of the community that you live in has always been in my mom's blood," Pat Pickens is proud to say about her mother, who joined the nonprofit volunteer tree at the start of its humble beginnings in 2003.
Marietta Tree Keeper founder Holly Walquist said: "Ms. Morrison is a great asset to the community. She knows and shares so much area history. And, she's a great advocate for trees."

Lois Morrison has resided in three homes in the Victory Heights neighborhood since the time she graduated high school and moved from a Rabun County farm to live with her sister and work in Atlanta.  In 1943, she went to work at the nearby Bell Bomber plant, now operated by Lockheed Martin, then married Charles Morrison and lived in a duplex across the street from “the park.”

She became the park’s biggest advocate about 15 years ago when she noticed sewage in nearby Victory Heights Creek. Victory Heights Creek appears in a culvert on the south side of Roswell Street at a site on the edge of a U-Haul Rental business. This creek flows into Rottenwood Creek which ends up in the Chattahoochee River.

In 1997, Morrison saw that garbage and unnatural liquids were in the tributary and followed the water downstream to an elementary school yard, now named Marietta Center for Advanced Academics, on Aviation Road. There, she evidence that storm water overflows next to the school were delivering sewage directly into the creek.

Morrison and daughter, Nancy Morrison, began documenting a number of sewerage incidents near the park and school and joined Georgia Adopt-A-Stream to learn about waterways and gain state-wide support.

After years of persistent watching and reporting to city and Marietta Power officials, the city eventually fixed the problem.

"That's our drinking water, and it wasn't healthy for the kids to play in," Morrison said. "I didn't do it for the honor, I did it for the need."

She might not have done it for the honor, but in 2005, she was cited as Cobb County Adopt-A-Stream Volunteer of the Year.

Nancy Morrison event today makes it a point to educate city residents that liquids and solids that enter storm drains do not go into the sewer system to be cleaned, but flow unfiltered into natural waterways and flood plains.

Both Lois and Nancy Morrison, until about the end of 2009, were regular attendees at city council meetings, avid volunteers with community groups, ready hands for Keep Marietta Beautiful events plus other volunteer actions.

Both are graduates of Marietta Citizens' Government Academy and the Center for Family Resources Leadership Development program. Family walks through the neighborhood had been regular weekly events until recently.

Lois Morrison thinks of Victory Heights as a great place to live because "it is safe, neighbors know each other and it is quiet." And she fights for all aspects of the park, as Marietta Parks and Recreation Director Rich Buss knows. He mentions that Morrison, in particular, has been an advocate for keeping the tennis courts at Victory Park.

Buss said the existing courts are slated for improvements and that the money will come from the $25 million parks bond that was passed in 2009.  Presently, the budget for Victory Park improvements hover around $200,000.

Morrison said she wants to see the park stay a neighborhood place rather than attracting people who live farther than walking distance. And the current and future health of its creek remains a concern.

Her respect for nature runs deep, and she said: "God created the world, according to scripture, the trees, the streams, everything put where they should be. He didn't leave a formula to create more land."