RICHARD CEIROG MORRIS was born in Lancashire, England and came to Alaska at the turn of the 20th century to mine for gold. After discovering that there was more money to be made in groceries than gold, in 1907 he invested his savings in a small general store in Tofty, Alaska, becoming half owner. A few years later he moved the store to the more economically sound village of Nenana and did well. In 1918 he returned to Wales and married LUNED LEWIS, with whom he had corresponded for ten years. He walked to Seward to begin his long journey to Wales to marry her. They made their way back to Alaska by ship, train and dogsled and on to Nenana in the spring of 1919. In 1922 their son, Berwyn was born, but their happiness was short-lived when they lost him in the 1923 flu epidemic.
Richard was President of the Nenana Pioneers when President Harding came to Nenana and was made an honorary member. Richard handed the President the golden spike when the railroad officially opened that section. In 1924 he was Vice President of the Grand Igloo in Fairbanks and later became President.
Grieving for their little son, the couple decided to make a change. They found a small store for sale in Seldovia and moved there in 1925. The small town had two churches, a school, one other store, a doctor and three very busy salteries. They moved into a small house built on pilings over the water. Their daughter Luned Dolwin Inglima was born in 1926 and their son Richard A. Morris, “Dickie”, in 1928. Things were going well and they built a new home overlooking the bay. They owned and operated the Morris & Morris Store in Seldovia.
In 1930 disaster struck when the herring disappeared. The canneries and salteries went broke, checks bounced. It was hard on the business people who carried accounts but everyone shared. The WPA and CCC helped. In 1954 they retired from the business and briefly moved Outside, but Richard soon contracted cancer and they returned to Alaska. He died on October 27, 1955, in Seldovia, Alaska, at the age of 82. Luned died in 1969. They are buried next to each other in the Seldovia City Cemetery #82 and #83.