In the early hours of Wednesday, October 8, Rocklin High lost one of its greatest and most impactful teachers: Richard Morris.

Morris taught for more years than any other teacher in the school district. From his start at Mesa Verde, he taught next at Springview before he found his home in Rocklin High in 1996. Through his years of teaching he taught a plethora of different classes, but it was photography that became his passion.

For the years leading up to his retirement at the end of the 2013/2014 school year he could be seen across campus documenting rallies, special events, and the everyday lives of the students and staff who loved him so dearly.

“He was a huge part of the history of Rocklin high School. Through his photography and through his personality he impacted people tremendously,” said Principal David Bills.

“He would take hundreds of pictures of staff’s students and give them to us as our kids went through school. It was… it was really impactful. When he came in and gave you a file documenting your kid going through high school — it was something special,” said Bills.

Mr. Ryan O’Donnell, a social studies and media teacher who worked with Morris, showed the history department’s memories of him.

“This is our relationship with Mr. Morris,” Said Mr. O’Donnell, gesturing to the cabinets of the teachers’ room in the history building. The narrow room has cabinets on both side walls, and each is covered by hundreds of pictures of the teachers. There are pictures of Faculty Follies, pictures of the teachers with their students, pictures of times that will be remembered forever due to Morris.

“He would document the stories of the students, but often times [the teachers’] stories are never really documented, and so every single year we go through his photos and pull off the pictures of us. We come in here everyday, and we look and we see how we changed,” said O’Donnell.

“We don’t know what we’re going to do without Rick… he’s a piece our family that we don’t have an answer for.”

As a final gift to the teachers that became his family, Morris collected photos of each teacher and their families. He gave the teachers a CD that immortalized the lives of their families in pictures he took over the years.

The man behind the pictures was just as loved and just as impactful as his work.

“He had a really big impact on my life,” said Brooke Sutton, a student whose passion for photography was unlocked by Morris, “Me, Destinee Czub, Destiny Adams and Lauren Buban, we were in his class together… we were kind of like his kids to him.”

“He was such a pure person … very few people have the standards that he had. He lived his life to that standard. He was honest in everything that he did, you could depend on him, he was thoughtful, I mean you could go right on down the list, and to me that’s what he was. That’s what I’ll miss, that’s what I’ve learned from him and appreciated from him,” said Mr. Frank Shields, Morris’s friend and fellow photography teacher.

“I’ve never seen a guy with a longer email signature! It would be two paragraphs long, ‘you can contact me here, here, and here,’” said O’Donnell, “He was great teacher and was always in the best interest of the kids, I loved working with him.”

“There’s nobody more tied in to Rocklin High School’s staff and students than Rick Morris was, and he’ll be greatly missed,” said Bills.

“I’ve never known a teacher who loved students and teaching more than Rick Morris. It truly was his life,” said Casey Nichols, who taught media classes with Mr. Morris.

After a long-term battle with cancer, Morris passed away at age 61.

Morris is survived by his wife, Sue Morris. His legacy remains as his work documenting the lives of Rocklin High School’s students and staff, and the endless impact he’s made on those fortunate enough to have had Morris in their lives remains a large part of the school.