Alicia Morton
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On Wednesday evening, February 10, 2021, Alicia Morton, dancer, art historian, teacher, poet, and loving wife, mother, grandmother, and sister, passed away peacefully at the age of 82 at her home in Amherst, Massachusetts, with her loving husband Thomas Throck Morton and her son, David Reckford, by her side. She lived a full life, with a contagious passion for art and dance, a deep love and hope for humanity and the planet, and joy and dedication to her family.
Born May 24, 1938, in New York City, the youngest of three sisters, to Florence Reynolds Decker and Robert Merrill Decker, Alicia graduated from The Brearley School and went on to study at Barnard College, and nearly two decades later, graduated from Smith College.
She was a dancer and teacher her entire life, continuing to teach dance classes and perform publicly into her 80s, even while living with stage four breast cancer for over twenty years.
Alicia first encountered the Martha Graham tradition of modern dance during her senior year of high school. Years later, after moving to Coconut Grove, Florida with her then-husband Philip Reckford and three young children, she joined a local dance company, and later formed her own company, Aurora Dance.
After her divorce in 1979, she moved to Massachusetts, enrolling in Smith College and completing a degree in Art History. In Massachusetts, she fell in love with and married Thomas Throck Morton, an artist, musician, and teacher who shared her passion for art and inspired her with his own music and painting. Alicia and Tom raised Joe and Lucas, his two children from a previous marriage, and Jordan, her youngest son from her first marriage.
Alicia's passion for the transformative power of dance inspired her to produce live performances nearly every year for the rest of her life.
Until the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alicia continued to teach dance and exercise classes several days a week at the Amherst Senior Center, bringing her love of dance and movement to hundreds of devoted students over a period of nearly fifty years. In more recent years, she also taught art history and art in film, both in community spaces such as The Amherst Senior Center, and as an Adjunct Professor at Westfield State College.
From a young age, Alicia was conscious about environmental devastation and the threat of climate change and she rejected prejudice and discrimination in all its forms. Her life reflected her values, guided by generosity and kindness, and concern about her impact on the earth. She avoided excess waste and energy inefficiency, took part in protests and a weekly peace vigil, wrote letters to politicians and newspapers, and made her concerts into benefits for local community groups.
When she visited her son, Jordan, in New Orleans in the years after Hurricane Katrina, she taught free classes for community members, and did benefits for organizations involved in rebuilding the city. She also volunteered with The New Orleans Museum of Art, and contributed to a book on the art in their sculpture garden.
Alicia was dedicated to her children and stepchildren: Stephen Reckford (Jack Linehan) of Potomac, MD; David Reckford (Laurence) of Rueil-Malmaison, France; Laura Reckford (Brian Tarcy) of Falmouth, MA; Joe Morton of Greenfield, MA; Lucas Morton (Christi) of Greenfield, MA; and Jordan Flaherty of New Orleans, LA; and her grandchildren, Simon and Mathilda Reckford, Stevie, Jack, and Janet Linehan-Reckford, and Isaac Morton. She is also survived by her sister Florence Hardin (Laureston) of Portland, OR, and her children, Alicia and Linda.
One of her favorite poems was by Emily Dickinson, and she recited it by heart days before she passed. It begins:
Behind Me?dips Eternity?
Before Me?Immortality?
Myself?the Term between?
Death but the Drift of Eastern Gray,
Dissolving into Dawn away,
Before the West begin?
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a favorite charity. A Celebration of Alicia's Life took place on Saturday, February 13, with hopes that a larger gathering can be arranged in the coming months.