Louis W. Morton, 23 of Houston, TX. passed away Sunday September 17, 1972 in Uganda where he was a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Louis Morton and another Peace Corps volunteer, Robert Freed of Madison, Wisconsin, were fired upon as they drove from Mbara to Kampala after visiting a game preserve. Freed and Morton had passed two road blocks and were passing a third when soldiers began firing, apparently without provocation. Morton suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Freed, slightly wounded, was picked up by soldiers. He eventually made his way to Kampala, where he contacted the American embassy.
Morton, a graduate of St. Thomas High School and the University of Houston, had been teaching high school chemistry in Uganda beginning July 1972.
Louis Wayne Morton was born when my mother was 18 years of age (Celia Norma Morton Keller). He was one of my favorite uncles of all of my mother’s brothers. I remember whenever my father would leave the country while he was in the Air Force, places where we couldn’t go, he would fly into town wherever we lived and drive us and our mother back to Houston, Texas where we would live until dad would come back home before his next tour of duty. My Uncle Louis would do anything for my sister and I. I remember one time when he came back from visiting Mexico he came back with a beard and a mustache. My sister and I told him that we would not kiss him until he shaved his beard and mustache off and so he did. He would get us anything we wanted not matter what it was or how hard it was to find it. I truly miss my Uncle Louis. He meant the world to me. I wish he was still alive!!!!! I also named my son after him because I loved my uncle just that much.
– Pamela Cox