BY TED SHOCKLEY, Eastern Shore Post —
How can a person like the Rev. Chester W. Morris always be so upbeat?
Morris did not long ponder the question.
Having a sunny disposition is just his manner.
“I’m not a person who gets down,” said Morris, 75, of Eastville, who recently retired as presiding elder of the district of the African Methodist Episcopal church that includes Norfolk and the Eastern Shore.
“That’s my personality,” he said. “I try to lift people.”
Not even a tenure as a middle and high school teacher jaded him.
“I’m known by my Afro — you can print that,” said Morris with a laugh, referencing the full hairstyle that has long been his trademark.
“My students remember me.”
An Eastern Shore native, Morris spent his full career as a minister in Northampton and Accomack counties before his retirement this spring.
Before his job supervising churches and 28 AME pastors around the region, he was pastor for 31 years at New Allen AME Church in Franktown.
Before that, as a seminarian, he was pastor at Bethel AME Church in Onancock.
It has been his life’s work — and he remembers as a young man envisioning a career in the ministry.
“The Lord put a calling on my life,” he said. “I was motivated and people were touched by what I was doing.
“I felt a calling on my life to make a difference in the lives of people and the Lord was with me.”
Morris was raised in Bethel AME Church in Eastville, where he remembers his grandfather being a church officer. His entire family attended the church, he said.
His parents, 95-year-old Gertrude Simpkins Morris and the late Calvin Morris Sr., “instilled a lot of values” in Morris and his siblings, all of whom went on to successful careers. His mother lives near Morris in Eastville.
His brother Calvin Morris retired from the military and his brother James Morris retired after a teaching career. His late sister, Gloria Morris, was a school librarian.
Chester Morris, a 1968 graduate of segregated Northampton County High School in Machipongo, earned undergraduate and master’s of divinity degrees from Virginia Union University. He later earned a second master’s degree from Norfolk State.
He always wanted to come back to the Eastern Shore.
“I like the fresh air, the fresh food, the atmosphere, the friendliness,” he said of his home. “There’s nothing like it.”
Education and the ministry also became the work of his wife, Deborah, and their daughter, Teresa. Deborah Morris was an area teacher for 30 years and directed one of the church choirs.
Their daughter served as Chester Morris’ administrative assistant during his time as a presiding elder.
Morris is proud that, despite a national trend of declining church attendance, he was able to grow the congregation at New Allen.
While serving as presiding elder, he also helped other AME churches around the region cast a wide net, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic hurt attendance.
“You have to find new, innovative ways to motivate folks to come out,” Morris said. “Attendance has come down and that is a challenge. All denominations are facing that now.”
Part of his responsibilities as presiding elder also included ensuring the churches under his watch were sound in their financial standing and kept attendance robust. He also was called on to mediate any problems or conflicts.
Was it a difficult job?
“It can be if you’re not called to do it,” said Morris.
Morris “leaves a legacy that cannot be measured in years or titles, but in lives touched, hearts encouraged, and communities strengthened,” wrote the Rev. Tricia Thomas in a tribute published on the Christian Recorder website.
But Morris always will be known — even in retirement — for his preternaturally enthusiastic manner.
“I talk about how sweet it is, about love and happiness,” said Morris, known among some as the “honey child” preacher because he used those two words so much.
“That keeps me going and it keeps the crowd into it,” he said of his style of preaching.
“I’m a person who doesn’t worry. I love people and I’m a positive person. I have a had a good time.”
He is looking forward to retirement but will continue working for others, just as he always has.
“I’m still preaching, still teaching, still doing revivals and still helping churches that need me to come in.”
