BY DARRELL HALEN

When volunteers were sought to serve on Windham’s solid waste committee years ago, Wayne Morris stepped up.

The town’s dump and incinerator were in the Rock Pond watershed and Morris, who lives on the pond, wanted to get involved.

His work on that committee was one of his first acts of service to the community. Since then, he’s made many contributions to the town.

In recognition of his service, Morris, 54, was recently named Volunteer of the Year by the town.

“I think he’s probably one of the most dedicated people to the town that we have,” said Russ Wilder, who served with Morris on the planning board and conservation commission.

The volunteer award is given annually “in appreciation of dedicated and unselfish service.”

In bestowing the honor to Morris, Town Administrator David Sullivan cited his longtime service and the number of committees he currently works on.

Morris serves as an alternate on the conservation commission and currently sits on committees studying alternative locations for the town’s salt shed, advising selectmen on uses for an old train depot, working with the state on placing bicycle paths on Lowell Road, and studying the creation of a connector from Wall Street to Londonderry Road.

He spent seven years on the planning board, serves on its trails subcommittee and previously served on the conservation commission before returning as an alternate.

His volunteerism is strongly connected to his passion for the outdoors. He loves to go cross country skiing, camping, canoeing, swimming, bicycling and snowshoeing. Many of these hobbies he can do just by stepping through his back door.

Morris has worked to preserve trails and is proud of his work on the conservation commission to help acquire the Deer Leap conservation property.

Wilder calls Morris a “true conservationist.”

“He’s extremely honest and fair, and he definitely keeps to the image of what Windham has said it believes it should be ... a rural oasis,” Wilder said. “He’s kept that in mind.”

“He’s been very dedicated and persistent over the years,” Wilder added. “He knows so much about the town, its physical characteristics. He’s been a great resource.”

Morris, who grew up in Tewksbury, Mass., was unhappy to later see old houses on the city’s main street being converted to commercial properties and the adverse impact on development from public sewage.

“I saw how Tewksbury was developing and I didn’t want Windham to go that way,” he said.

Morris has lived in Windham 26 years. He and his wife, Julie, have a daughter, Emily, 23,
who is a graduate student. He is grateful, he said, that they put up with all the time he spent serving the town.

Morris estimates that he’s probably given at least a thousand hours in volunteer service.

He’s grown in the experience – becoming more comfortable speaking in public – and considers himself to be a good listener.

“I think I do my homework and I think I’m not afraid to compromise,” he said. “Life is one big compromise, sometimes. I don’t get stuck in my ways. Cooperation, teamwork. That’s key.”

Through his service, Morris said, he’s learned from others that people have the right to develop their property but things could be done to minimize its impact.

In addition to helping the town, Morris has given time to other groups that are important to him. He’s on the board of directors of the Rock Pond Improvement Association and is a member of the Windham Rail Trail Alliance, a group that promotes a stretch of the Rockingham Recreational Trail in Windham as a multi-use path.