Lawrence G. Morehouse
Lawrence G. Morehouse, professor emeritus of veterinary pathology and retired director of the veterinary diagnostic laboratory at MU, was a Tiger fan through and through.
“I grew up right behind the basket in Hearnes Center because we went to every home game," his daughter Glenn Morehouse Olson said.
Dr. Morehouse died of congestive heart failure on Wednesday, March 2, 2011, at Boone Hospital Center. He was 85.
Dr. Morehouse’s passions were not restricted to sports. He was also an enthusiastic member of the Missouri Symphony Society. “He put his body and soul into the Missouri Theatre,” Glenn Morehouse Olson said.
Dr. Morehouse and his wife donated the marquee at the theater.
He played the trumpet and piano as a child, but after dropping his sheet music through the window of a car, his musical aspirations ended. Glenn Morehouse Olson said all three of her daughters are musical and Dr. Morehouse loved to listen to them play and sing.
He was born to Edwy and Ethel (Glenn) Morehouse on a farm near Manchester, Kan. on July 21, 1925. He attended a one-room schoolhouse and was immensely proud of the education he received there. After high school, Dr. Morehouse served in the navy as a pharmacist’s mate in World War II.
When he returned home, he went to Kansas State University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree and doctor of veterinary medicine in 1952. After a year of practicing in St. Louis, Dr. Morehouse went to Purdue University. While working on his master’s and doctorate, he met Georgia Lewis.
Georgia Lewis Morehouse said they met in biochemistry class. She was an undergraduate, but she took graduate level courses. Dr. Morehouse invited her to a Christmas party in December and the next year, on Oct. 6, 1956, the two were married in Lafayette, Ind.
Dr. Morehouse worked for the USDA in Washington D.C. for three years. He later worked at the newly-established National Animal Disease Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. He accepted a position as professor and chairman of the department of veterinary pathology at MU in 1964.
Glenn Morehouse Olson said her father worked tirelessly in service to MU. He built one of the first diagnostic laboratories at the university, and it was later nationally accredited.
“His vision founded this lab from its modest beginning to the now full service and well-respected veterinary laboratory,” Dr. Alex Bermudez, director of veterinary medical diagnostic laboratory at MU, said.
He became the first organizing director of the Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in 1968. He served in that capacity until he was named professor emeritus in 1987.
Throughout his career, Dr. Morehouse authored or co-authored more than 100 scientific publications dealing with disease of livestock laboratory and companion animals. He also co-edited a three-volume encyclopedic work on fungal toxins.
Dr. Morehouse was a member of the American and Missouri Veterinary Medical Associations, the U.S. Animal Health Association, Sigma Xi, The Royal Society of Health and many more.
He also served as president at the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, where he received the E.P. Pope award, and he served as secretary and treasurer at the World Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians
Glenn Morehouse Olson said her parents traveled to all 50 states and many countries around the world.
“Our summers were spent sometimes going through cemeteries finding the history of the Morehouse family,” she said.
Dr. Morehouse’s interest in genealogy led him to publish a Morehouse Family genealogy. And at the urging of this family, he wrote an autobiography entitled “The Nine Lives of L.G. Morehouse.”
A long time member of the Trinity Presbyterian Church, he served several terms as elder and also as clerk of session.
He is survived by his wife, Georgia; a son, Timothy Morehouse and his wife, Kara, of New Jersey; a daughter, Glenn Morehouse Olson and her husband, Joel; and five grandchildren.
His parents; one brother, E. Wayne Morehouse; two sisters, Inez Lathrop and Dona Davidson, died earlier.
A reception and visitation will be held in the Fellowship Hall of Trinity Presbyterian from noon until 2 p.m. on Friday, March 11, followed immediately by the service in the sanctuary.
Instead of flowers, contributions can be made to the Missouri Symphony Society, 203 S. 9th St. in Columbia.
Tributes can be posted at memorialfuneralhomeandcemetery.com.
