By Jody Henson
February 28, 2024, marked the final play of a life that has brought joy, laughter, love, and sorrow to so many Beaufortonians, Ralph “Milledge” Morris IV, now residing in full body and mind in his afterlife.
In the fall 1962, I somehow found myself in the midst of Milledge and a few Beaufort High School cheerleaders and some others behind the fieldhouse. This was my first recollection of him at an unforgettable moment, a senior giant to my ever-slight sophomore physique.
Quiet and saying little, he adored the attention of the ladies in their scarlet and white before they chanted these words I have never forgotten.
“He’s a terror, He’s a scream, He’s the Captain of our Team! Yeah Milledge. … Rah Morris.”
He, as the captain of the Beaufort High Tidal Wave’s 1962 football team, never blushed with color, but his endearing grin and bright eyes, as he shied slightly away, told it all. He loved it!
Over these past 62 years, we shared time together including trips to Pritchard’s Island; the Saturday morning men’s breakfast group; working with him at his Christmas Tree Farm, where during one very cold and driving sleet-filled day before Thanksgiving, we unloaded hundreds of trees to ready for the next day’s customers. I’ve never been so physically drained in my life before or sense. It was just another day in his life.
These past years also included a group of husbands, whose wives met monthly to share their Beaufort High School memories at their respective homes, while the guys enjoyed an evening out of good food, drink, and fond memories primarily at the Back Porch Grill among other locations over the years. We will all miss his profound company.
But let me regress to a memorable and beautiful July evening in 1970. I was attending classes at USC Beaufort and working at Fordham’s Hardware after my Army service. Milledge had served in the Navy. He had just started dating a beautiful young woman, new to Beaufort, who wasstudying to be a Veterinarian under Dr. Pratt of Lady’s Island, and he approached me about double dating on a boating trip to the Harbor Town Marina so she could meet my girlfriend, Anita.
He was the sailor in our group, and we arranged to all meet at the downtown marina landing at his boat after I got off work at 6 p.m. Our plans were to boat over, have a few drinks and dinner offered in the lighthouse at that time.
Live music serenaded us all evening. I will never forget the James Taylor song “Fire and Rain” being our favorite. Caught up in our youth and laughter, following too many special beverages, and never having eaten dinner, we needed to head home as it was well after midnight. We had no fear as our Captain knew his way home through the creeks and rivers on this seemingly moonless night.
Shortly into our trip, the need for a light to read the center console compass arose, and … no flashlight! Matches were then called for, only to be blown out by the breeze. And to add misery to our directional needs, the compass fell off the console. This was when we realized we had no running lights either.
After what seemed like hours of boating, Milledge doing his very best with us all still in good spirits and having full confidence in him, we came upon a slow-moving barge and called out to a deck hand “which way is North?” He pointed us in another direction that, after turning around, finally saw us arrive back in Beaufort safely just as the sun was rising. We parted quickly, and I got my future wife home before her parents were up, and I arrived at Fordham’s Hardware on time for a busy Friday. Priceless memories of a dear Milledge who will be missed by his extensive family and friends and to those ladies who knew him to be a very good kisser; a crown he wore with great pride I assure you.
He will forever, and always be, the Captain of Our Team.
Fair Winds and Following Seas My Dear Friend.
Jody Henson, the son of a Marine Corps aviator, moved to Beaufort in July of 1962. He graduated from Beaufort High School in 1965. He attended the University of South Carolina before being drafted into the Army and serving in Vietnam in 1968 and 69. Henson returned to college, married to Anita Sandel of Beaufort in 1972, and graduated with a B.S. in Management in 1973. Henson spent 32 years with the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, retiring in Beaufort., where he served as a Bailiff and Judicial Clerk with the Beaufort County Clerk of Court Office for longer than 14 years prior to retiring in 2021.
