Tributes to dale geologist Dr Trevor Morse

Tributes have been paid to a dale geologist and U3A stalwart who died suddenly aged 78, on May 6.

Dr Trevor Morse was well known in the town and led the U3A’s geology group for more than 16 years.

Uniquely, he didn’t get into the field until his 40s, despite having a passion for the subject from childhood.

Born in Swansea on August 6, 1947, Trevor moved with his family to Hartlepool aged two and completed his schooling there.

He went on to work in industry where he earned his City and Guilds as a heavy plate manufacturer.

He later met his future wife Lynn, who sadly had been widowed with three small children, Joanne, Katy and David, at the age of 28. He adopted her children as his own.

A child they fostered aged eight, Philip, was also adopted by the family.

Trevor did a stint as a brewer for Camerons Brewery, before becoming a safety officer in the petroleum industry.

The couple moved to Barnard Castle when Trevor was in his early 40s and he made a major decision.

Lynn said: “He just said, ‘Right, I am going to university’. He packed everything in and went to Durham University where he spent three years doing a degree, and then he was offered by Durham University a PhD studying in Cyprus.”

It had been a childhood dream from a time when his family used to holiday with friends who had a cottage near Reeth.

Lynn said: “The lads would go out foraging and things, and they found this fossil spot. It has been Trevor’s interest ever since.”

He worked part time for Durham University and also took students from various universities, including Cambridge, to study in Cyprus regularly.

His wife said: “He was renowned in his field as a doctor of earth sciences and a palaeontologist.”
In his time, he served as treasurer and secretary of the Yorkshire Geological Society and was a member of the Open University Geological Society. He also ran Open University summer school’s at Durham.

U3A geology group member Bob Tuddenham said: “A great enthusiast for the subject, Trevor was a wonderfully generous teacher both in the regular monthly meeting and on field trips. He was an expert in the geology of the area and particularly Teesdale.

“What we will probably recall most about Trevor was his evident devotion to his wife Lynn and his family.”

Lynn added: “Our family was his life. He was fabulous. He was the most generous man, but he was loved by everybody. If anybody asked him for help, he would help anybody.

“He had Asperger syndrome, which made him very quirky. He would say things and didn’t understand it wasn’t maybe quite appropriate, but they were always funny.”

Sadly, the couple lost their sons David and Philip too early. Soon after David’s death the family cycled the coast-to-coast challenge and covered the 135km Hadrian’s Wall Way.

Along with cycling, his other hobbies were model railways and scrapbooking. The family also enjoyed going on cruises visiting places like Egypt, the Fjords, Portugal and Spain.

Trevor’s health took a turn for the worse late last year when both he and Lynn were hospitalised for flu and pneumonia. While recovering in Darlington Memorial Hospital he suffered a stroke.

While he appeared to be recovering well, he collapsed at home early in May after telling his wife he thought he was having another stroke.

He was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm in the abdomen and was transferred to James Cook University Hospital where the family were advised it was unlikely that Trevor would survive.

Lynn said: “We were all around him all night. He did have a few lucid moments. We were able to say our goodbyes, and he said goodbye to us, which is an amazing thing because not everybody gets to do that.

“He went, but he wasn’t in pain, he went very peacefully.”

Trevor is survived by his wife Lynn, his daughter Katy and her husband Paul, his daughter Joanne, her husband Charlie and their children Jack and Beth, daughter-in-law Nicky and her new husband Mark, and her children Macauley, Shannon, Maddie and Lily, and daughter-in-law Sarah who is soon to be married to Toby.