Marquis Who’s Who has given Kenneth Wayne Morris, DDS, of Gasburg, Virginia, its Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. The publisher of biographical profiles announced the honor on January 8, 2018, citing his long career, his leadership and his record of service.
Dr. Morris has been on the dental staff at Community Memorial Hospital, now VCU Health/CMH, since 1967, which means he has now marked 50 years there. The hospital is a community-owned nonprofit. Before joining it, he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve Dental Corps from June 1965 to August 1967 and received the National Defense Service Medal.
He studied at the University of Virginia, finishing his undergraduate degree in 1961. Four years later he earned his DDS at the Medical College of Virginia School of Dentistry, known today as VCU/MCV. To keep up with changes in the field, he has stayed a member of the American Dental Association, the Virginia Dental Association and Southside Component 3 for many years.
His work outside dentistry runs just as deep. With The Gideons International, the evangelical association founded in Wisconsin in 1899, he held several state posts in Virginia: chaplain, faith fund coordinator, vice president and, later, state president. He also took part in mission trips to Japan in 1985 and to Hong Kong in 1996. Today he chairs the foundation board of Mid-Atlantic Christian University, and he belongs to Pleasant Hill Christian Church.
There is a musical side, too, since he recorded for Gospel Records in 1978. As a student he swam for the University of Virginia and won an ACC medal. These days he fishes, skis and plays golf, tennis and basketball, while also making time for his four grandchildren.
Marquis Who’s Who has profiled accomplished people since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the first edition of Who’s Who in America. The lifetime award goes to listees whose contributions to their field stand out, and Dr. Morris now appears on the award’s website.
