A very full life
Don and Alice Morgan with a python in Thailand .
Dr . Alice Morgan is ready for ‘ more exciting experiences to enjoy and share ’
6
Story by Loretta Gillespie Photos courtesy of Dr . Alice Morgan
Dr . Alice Holt Hardin Morgan was born one month late by C-section in Decatur . She was delivered by her Chenault uncles and cousins , Dr . Frank , Dr . John , and Dr . Sidney Chenault . Her mother Alice Britnell Chenault Hardin was told to pick out clothing for the baby to be buried in . She never felt her baby move during her pregnancy , and they could not tell if the child was alive . Mother and baby stayed in the hospital for weeks . Little Alice cried louder than the younger babies and woke them up . It was touch and go for a while , but the mother and baby pulled through the ordeal . After six months Alice B tried to pick up little Alice and fell in the floor with her .
Little did any of them know that the baby who came that night would later be welcomed in the presence of kings and queens , swim the seas around the world , and become one of the most brilliant minds to practice medicine in Cullman County . At the time , she was just little Alice Holt Hardin . Her name came from her grandmother Laura Alice Chenault , her mother Alice Britnell , and her father William Holt whose mother ’ s maiden name was Holt . Her brother was also given their father ’ s name .
Her mother was a school teacher and her father was county supervisor for Farmers Home Administration .
Alice was quite the tom boy climbing trees , getting on the roof of their home , skating , and playing ball with the neighborhood children . Dolls were abandoned about the first grade , but Brownie Scouts and later Girl Scouting became important to a group of girls in town . In the ninth grade Doris Chitwood directed her in dissecting her first frog . Don Chitwood stimulated her interest in biology and required science fair projects . Franklin Roberson further encouraged her interest as he taught her chemistry and physics .
Alice won fourth place at the regional science fair in Florence in the 10th grade , then first place in the regional science fairs in the 11th and 12th grades , earning her a trip to the national science fair in Albuquerque , New Mexico , where she won 4th place . As a senior she won first place in the regional science fair and a trip to the national science fair in Baltimore , Maryland where she received an American Medical Association ( AMA ) award in 1964 .
Her senior class trip to Washington , D . C ., occurred the same time as the Baltimore science fair , and she could not attend both . Science won out , but much later she would be able to live twice in D . C . while attending classes at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology ( AFIP ) studying head and neck
Senior & Retiree Directory 2021-2022
pathology . While attending classes at AFIP she stayed at Gallaudet University and saw hearing impaired students at the infirmary .
After high school graduation Alice was one of 26 students selected by the National Science Teachers Association to attend the International Youth Science Fortnight in London , England , hosted by Prince Charles in 1964 .
“ Lectures there stimulated further interest in science and included talks about thalidomide birth defects that occurred in children whose mothers took this drug ,” recalled Alice . “ Prostheses developed to help these children become more functional made a lasting impression on me .”
Alice also has a great love for music . She started piano lessons in the third grade and organ lessons in the eighth grade and continued those until graduation from LCHS . Practicing took up several hours a day . She played piano and organ at First United Methodist Church through high school and when home from college . She also played organ at First United Methodist Church in Cullman .
Alice graduated from Lawrence County High School as valedictorian of the class of 1964 . She attended Florence State College for a year , and then transferred to Auburn University where she received General Motors and Auburn University Scholarships and graduated magna cum laude from the School of Agriculture with a BS degree , majoring in zoology . On campus she was recognized as being intelligent , focused and dedicated . She received a three-year NDEA Title IV fellowship to further her studies . In 1971 she received a MS degree in physiology .
While working on the degree in zoology , her favorite courses were in invertebrate zoology . These courses required catching lizards , frogs , salamanders , snakes , and turtles for credit later to be released . One night at Auburn , she and her roommate went out in the rain to collect herptiles . They picked up tree frogs on the road or whatever they could find . After getting back to the dorm , her roommate who was afraid of all critters thought she had the courage to touch one of the collected tree frogs in the jug . When she tried to touch the moving frogs , she jumped and let out about 30 green and gray tree frogs and bull frogs . They went everywhere , even clinging