Morrison, Gayle

Biography

Gayle Morrison has been active in several organizations working with Southeast Asians since the 1970s. She earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology from California State University in Fullerton, California, in 1972. She then went on to receive a Master of Arts degree in Educational Counseling and Psychology in 1976 from Chapman University in Orange, California. She began her involvement with Southeast Asian organizations by working in the Home Support Program in Orange County. This program sent counselors into the homes of Southeast Asians where they educated members of the household in areas such as health care.

Morrison was also a member of the Refugee Forum of Orange County from 1978 to 1991. The forum was a county wide, inter-agency group of professionals and interested individuals who met to facilitate refugee resettlement through group problem solving and information sharing. From November 1985 through June 1988, Morrison served as the chairperson of the Linkages Committee and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Refugee Forum.

Morrison was the Assistant Executive Director of the Lao Family Community, Inc. (LFC), located in Orange County, California, from December 1988 to June 1990. During that time she performed all grant writing for program expansion of new programs. Within this organization, she established and coordinated an English as a Second Language (ESL) program for preliterate and survival level adult refugee students. She also assisted the executive director in developing and providing services for refugees and was responsible for all personnel management. She served as the Executive Director of LFC from June 1990 through February 1991. During this time, Morrison was responsible for all agency planning and supervised and reviewed all agency programs. She also reviewed all fiscal records to determine the agency's solvency.

Morrison went on to serve as Personnel Administrator for the Lao-Hmong Security Agency in Garden Grove, California, from March 1991 to the present. This private business trains and employs Southeast Asians, especially former Hmong and Lao soldiers, as security guards for warehouse and industrial sites throughout California.

Morrison has also been a member of various statewide committees, including the Governor's Task Force Citizen Advisory Committee from 1979-1981. Several articles by Morrison have been published, as well as the book, Sky is Falling: An Oral History of the CIA's Evacuation of the Hmong from Laos, in 1999.

Morrison currently lives in Santa Ana, California, where she continues to serve as an expert consultant for several organizations involved with Southeast Asian refugees. She has recently received a one-year research fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the purpose of completing oral history research regarding the Hmong who were United States allies and remained in Laos after 1975. This activity is part of the Hmong Oral History Project, an independent project of Morrison's that has been ongoing since 1988.

From the guide to the Gayle Morrison files on Southeast Asian refugees, 1969-2001, (University of California, Irvine. Library. Special Collections and Archives.)