{"id":348,"date":"2018-05-01T15:43:43","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T22:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/?p=348"},"modified":"2025-01-22T07:49:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T15:49:53","slug":"leaving-a-gift-in-her-will-was-an-easy-way-for-tamara-morse-to-support-an-exceptional-wsu-education-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/2018\/05\/01\/leaving-a-gift-in-her-will-was-an-easy-way-for-tamara-morse-to-support-an-exceptional-wsu-education-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaving a gift in her will was an easy way for Tamara Morse to support an exceptional WSU education program."},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring\/Summer 2018 Issue<\/a><\/p>\n

by Marcia Hill Gossard \u201999, \u201904 Ph.D.<\/em><\/p>\n

Stretched out in front of the fireplace at their home in Edmonds, Washington, are \u201cWallis\u201d and \u201cCole,\u201d Tamara Morse\u2019s recently adopted cats. \u201cI have a soft spot for orange striped tabbies,\u201d she says. Morse has had five orange tabbies since the 1980s. \u201cI love their markings. It looks like someone painted them with a brush.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallis and Cole, named after Morse\u2019s late husband, were up for adoption at Seattle Humane just a few weeks after \u201cPaprika,\u201d her cat of 14 years, died. \u201cI hadn\u2019t thought about having two cats,\u201d she says. But the house seemed quiet without her constant companion, Paprika, who had flown on at least 60 plane rides with Morse. \u201cWhen I got the call that they were available for adoption, I told them I would be there within the hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morse, an active volunteer with Seattle Humane, serves on their Planned Giving Council. It was through her volunteer work that she first learned about the Humane Society Alliance Education Program<\/a> partnership with Washington State University\u2019s College of Veterinary Medicine. \u201cI was drawn to the WSU program with Seattle Humane,\u201d says Morse. \u201cWhat a perfect combination of education and helping animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the program, WSU veterinary students spend two weeks at Seattle Humane. Students become more confident and skilled surgeons because they perform nearly 10 times the number of surgeries during their last year of veterinary school than they would have before the program began in 2013. Students also see a range of illnesses and injuries requiring diagnosis and treatment, which makes them better prepared to enter the workforce. \u201cMore than half our students, about 75 per year, go to Seattle Humane for a rotation,\u201d says Bryan Slinker, dean of the college. \u201cOver the course of a two-week rotation, each student will perform 25\u201330 spay and neuter surgeries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important for students to get the best education they can,\u201d says Morse. \u201cThis program sets them apart from the average veterinary medicine students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Road to WSU<\/h4>\n

Morse grew up 2,000 miles from Washington State University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The daughter of a mechanical engineering professor at Purdue, she was raised to value the importance of education and real-world life experience.<\/p>\n

She earned a bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degree in education from Purdue and taught for several years before going back to school to earn an MBA in 1978. Morse moved to Seattle that same year, and it was then she first met WSU alumnus Wallis Cole (\u201943) while they were both working at Chevron.<\/p>\n

Cole grew up in Pullman where his father was a professor of chemistry. He attended WSU and earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in agriculture, human, and natural resource sciences. Cole married his first wife, Betty Lou and they had three sons together, Wallis Jr., Richard, and Randal.<\/p>\n

After Betty Lou\u2019s death in the early 1990s, Cole picked up the phone to call Morse. \u201cWe\u00a0had known each other from work. He called and asked me out for dinner and the rest was history,\u201d says Morse. \u201cA great love story.\u201d Cole and Morse were married nearly 17 years before Cole\u2019s death in 2009.<\/p>\n

Although her allegiance with Indiana is still strong, after nearly four decades in Washington state, Morse admits she started thinking of herself as a Washingtonian. \u201cI have never lived anywhere that long,\u201d she says. \u201cThe state of Washington has been really good to me, so I thought why not do something for animals and Washington state.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
“You don\u2019t have to be a WSU grad to benefit WSU.\u201d<\/h6>\n

\u2014Tamara Morse<\/p>\n

\n

Morse was formally adopted as a Cougar<\/a> in December 2017. This special recognition is given to those who exhibit \u201cCougar Spirit\u201d and genuine loyalty and affection for WSU.<\/p>\n

\u201cWally would have been very pleased to know that I have room in my heart to be a Purdue Boilermaker and a Cougar,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

A Lasting Legacy<\/h4>\n

More than 30 years ago in 1986, Morse founded a successful financial planning business, and she has been running it single handedly ever since. \u201cMy first clients were\u00a0retirees I had known from Chevron,\u201d she says. Today, Morse still serves some of her earliest clients and also the children of many of her clients, making it a multigenerational business. \u201cI have been very fortunate in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morse says there are hundreds of organizations that she could have given to, but the program with WSU and Seattle Humane brought together her love of animals and the values instilled in her: the importance of education and real-world experience.<\/p>\n

So, much as she\u2019s advised many of her own clients, she decided to leave an estate gift naming the college in her will. \u201cYou have to think about the footprint you are going to leave and align it with your passions,\u201d she says. \u201cDeferred giving is a comfortable way to leave an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she is still devoted to Purdue, she knows her loyalties can be in two places. \u201cWally\u2019s sons told me that their dad would be really pleased if he knew I had given to WSU,\u201d she says. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a WSU grad to benefit WSU.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stretched out in front of the fireplace at their home in Edmonds, Washington, are \u201cWallis\u201d and \u201cCole,\u201d Tamara Morse\u2019s recently adopted cats. \u201cI have a soft spot for orange striped tabbies,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1015,"featured_media":768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wsuwp_accessibility_report":[]},"categories":[514],"tags":[619,540,614],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[425],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1015"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2898,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions\/2898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}