Burrows Morley
1908 - 1989
Burrows “Buzz” Morley was Saginaw’s biggest booster. In his travels from Chicago to Tokyo to Monte Carlo, he talked about his home town. He told his listeners about “the biggest malleable iron plant”-“the largest bean elevator”-“the world’s best water” and by the time he was through, they never forgot Saginaw, Michigan.
He was born into one of Saginaw’s most distinguished families on September 15, 1908. His forebears, George and Edward Morley, were pioneers who arrived in East Saginaw in 1863 after George had spent several years chasing dreams of fame and fortune in the California gold fields. Real prosperity came to them in Saginaw when they bought into a tiny store and turned it into one of the largest hardware businesses in the Midwest. Morley Brothers originally specialized in tools for the lumbering and sawmill trades but later stocked a wide variety of items from toys to the most elegant tableware, all exquisitely arranged in a spacious store that occupied half a city block on N. Washington. Visiting Morley’s beautiful and imaginative Christmas windows was a tradition for area families.
Buzz was always proud to have graduated from Saginaw High and remembered his teachers, especially the legendary physical education director, Franz Dreier, with respect, amusement and affection. According to Saginaw News biographer Ed Miller, his classmates remembered Buzz as a genuine and likable young man, a good student, an athlete who never stopped trying, a musician and a popular class president. “He was a rich kid who forgot all about being one,” wrote Miller.
After graduating from Dartmouth College, with a B.A. in 1930, Buzz received a masters degree from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in 1931. After college he returned to Saginaw and the store where he shared responsibilities with his father and brothers R. C. Jr., “Ginger” and Ted.
Buzz served in the army with the 5th Infantry Division, Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan, from 1940-1941. During World War II, he went through the first session of Officers Candidate School, Quartermaster Corps and became an instructor in the Officer Candidate School at Camp Lee, Petersburg, Virginia, from 1942-1945. He mustered out with the rank of captain.
He and his wife Judy, the former Julia Kaufholz, had two children, Peter Burrows and Burrows Jr.
After he returned to civilian life, he began his rise to leadership in business and community affairs. He was a power in the growth of Saginaw General Hospital (now Covenant-Harrison) and was president of its board of directors in 1963 and 1964. The hospital named him to its Hall of Fame in 1985. He was a director of the Michigan Sugar Company and served on the Second National Bank (now First Merit) board of directors. He was a leader in the Greater Saginaw Chamber of Commerce as director and president. When he was Chamber president, the Frontiers Club honored him for the Chamber’s human development program.
He was a founder of the Pit and Balcony community theater and appeared in its first production of one-act plays in 1932. Buzz played Thomas Pinicles Sud in “The Pot Boiler” and Richard Meriton in “Wurzel Flummery.” However, theater goers especially remembered him for his 1953 portrayal of Pieter Stuyvesant in the musical, “Knickerbocker Holiday.”
Buzz was a supporter of the Historical Society and was guiding hand in the formation of the Theodore Roethke Foundation. He and the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet were lifelong friends since the days they played tennis at the old Canoe Club. Buzz was one of Michigan’s ranking tennis players, played hockey, caught on two softball teams and was a would-be football player who was never big enough to make the team at Saginaw High. He was a long time member of the board of directors of the Saginaw Hall of Fame and served as its president.
Morley became chairman of the board of Morley Brothers in 1966, attained national status for his knowledge and accomplishments in the hardware business and was elected president of the National Wholesale Hardware Association. During his leadership of Morley Brothers, the company attained its sales levels. He worked tirelessly for downtown Saginaw and his faith in the city remained firm even after his major project, the Downtown Saginaw Mall, failed. His colleague, Louis Furlo, president of Morley Companies, remembered that when things were hard and people asked about business, Buzz would say, “We’re a little behind in sales but way ahead on meetings.”
However, Buzz is best remembered for his tremendous zest for living. He played the drums with more gusto than talent, was an enthusiastic skier and a keen sailor who was Commodore of the Saginaw Bay Yacht Club, the Higgins Lake Boat Club and the Great Lakes Cruising Club—Lake Huron. In the late 1940s and early ‘50s he was active in the International Lightning Class Association, serving positions of chief measurer, treasurer and president. He was a long-time member and past president of the Saginaw Club where he loved to swap stories and dream up practical jokes. One of his favorites involved the meticulous librarian of the Saginaw News, Bob McMillan, who had been nagging Buzz for weeks about a recent photo for their files. At long last, an envelope came for McMillan. It contained a full-length portrait of Buzz, lying on a bear rug wearing only a cigar and a big smile.
Burrows Morley died in May of 1989 at the age of 80 while the annual Buzz Morley regatta was being sailed on Saginaw Bay. An old friend described his reaction: “I felt as if a 300-watt light had gone out.”