Maude A. MORLEY

Maude Augusta MORLEY, 98, of Ulysses, PA, died Saturday, February 10, 2024 in UPMC Cole, Coudersport.  

Born September 23, 1925, in Middletown, NY, she was the daughter of Mack Budd and Eugertha Everitt Morley.  On September 17, 1948, in Middletown, she married George Olmsted Morley, who predeceased her on June 24, 2021.  A 1944 graduate of Goshen High School and a 1948 graduate of Fredonia State University of New York, she was a teacher at Ulysses Elementary and Northern Potter Children’s School.  Maude was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma Society.  She was a member of the Ulysses Methodist Church, United Methodist Women, and held many leadership positions.  Maude and George were active members of the Ulysses Senior Center.  

Maude was blessed by God with many talents and was a natural born leader with the ability to confidently take charge with proficiency in many organizations and events.  She had a winning personality that radiated love to all people through her many acts of service.  Her life revolved around family, church, music, and school.  

Maude was a woman of faith whose actions exemplified the love of God and the saving grace of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Upon entering Fredonia State Teachers College, Maude became active with a church and the Student Christian Movement on campus eventually becoming their president and the state secretary.  After her marriage to George, the love of her life, they settled in Ulysses in 1953 within sight of the Methodist Church.  Church attendance and involvement were essential parts of their growing family.  

Because Maude loved children, she decided to get a degree in elementary education.  After having nine children, she decided to start her teaching career in the fall of 1960.  Except for time off to have one more child, Maude taught eighteen years.  She enjoyed her students, and many still comment that she was their favorite teacher.  

Maude was a natural at anything to do with music.  She could play many instruments, but singing was her favorite musical talent.  She was always singing or whistling a tune as she worked at home.  She could find harmony parts with ease and was the key to teaching her children to harmonize when she and George organized the Morley Family and girls’ trio singing groups.  Even in her 90s, she could still hear the best harmony notes when they sang for her.  

Maude loved to dance from the time she took her first tap dancing lessons as a little girl.  Later, George became her perfect dance partner.  They were poetry in motion, as they gracefully moved in sync across the dance floor.  Their senior dances held at the Morley Pavilion provided them with one of many outlets to enjoy their love of dancing.  

First and foremost, Maude was a wife, mother, and grandmother who dedicated her life to creating a loving, well-ordered home.  She was the anchor that made home a haven from the world.  She was a patient, hard-working mother, who made coordinating the raising of ten children, maintaining a home, and teaching seem easy.  The doors were always open for guests whether expected or not, to visit, join in a meal, or spend the night.  None of this seemed to phase Maude.  She kept on smiling and made it all happen.  The house was filled with the aroma of homemade bread and other goodies.  The meals were often giant casseroles or a venison roast on Sunday when the family would gather after church.  Maude was a fun-loving person who would instigate impromptu adventures for her children and later for her grandchildren.  They remember with fondness visits with cousins, shopping trips, picnics and swimming in the creek or a lake and sometimes baseball games or sledding on the farm.  Undergirding it all was the marriage of two people, George and Maude, whose love for each other established a legacy of family that will be passed on to the next generations.  In heaven, they are once again swooping gracefully across the dance floor in each other's arms.  

Surviving are: five sons, Bryan (Janine) Morley of Gold, Douglas (Pat) Morley of Gold, Steve (Cathy) Morley of Fillmore, NY, Gary (Rhonda) Morley of Coudersport, and Greg (Joyce) Morley of Lancaster; five daughters, Sally (Robert) Ferguson of Bradford, Vickye (Michael) Hudson of Gold, Debbie (D. Chris) Haley of Ulysses, Melanie Morley of Coudersport, and Tammy (Ron) Hagar of Mansfield; 21 grandchildren, Andrew (Joanne) Morley, Jessica Morley, Amy (Chris) Quimby, Rob Ferguson, Ryan (Jenn) Ferguson, Matt (Joan) Morley, Jeanne Morley, Jonathan (Leigh) Haley, Nathanael (Kristen) Haley, Timothy (Autum) Haley, Mark (Maria) Morley, Aaron (Vara) Morley, Traci (Paul) Rankin, Kevin (Karime) Morley, Luke (Carrie) Morley, Chad (Beth) Morley, Nikki (Kristen) Morley, Erica (Jake) Bachman, Benjamin (Morgan) Wilson, Josh (Cheyenne) Morley, and Sam Morley; two step-grandchildren, Alesia (Seth) Blosser and Travis Hagar; 43 great-grandchildren; a sister-in-law, Beatrice Morley of Greencastle; many nieces, nephews, and cousins.  In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by her brothers, James Everitt Morley, Franklin P. Morley, and Mack B. Morley, Jr.; her sisters, Kathryn Allen, Edith Davis Pygman, Marion Mackey, and Mable Perry; and great-grandson, Ethan Haley.  

Friends may call at God’s Country Ministries, 1237 E. Second Street, Coudersport, PA on Friday, February 16, 2024 from 10:00 – 11:00 AM, with Funeral Services following at 11:00 AM, with Gary Morley presiding.  A committal service will be held at the church.  Burial will be in the Ulysses Cemetery.  

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.  

Arrangements are under the direction of Olney-Foust Funeral Homes & Crematory, Ulysses, PA.  Online condolences may be expressed at www.olneyfoust.com.