To Girl Scouts, Their ‘Miz Em’ Is a Divine Leader

She answers to the names Miz Em and Frankie.

If you are one of her hundreds of present and former Girl Scouts or one of her five grown and married children, you call her Miz Em.

But if you were one of the people who tangled with Francis Morse during her younger days “when I was the biggest tomboy in town,” you called her Frankie, which has since become the term of affection for all who know her.

“I like the name Miz Em, “ said Morse; “it fits me.”

Morse is a legend among the many women who were Girl Scouts in the troops she led. To show their appreciation, they toasted her with a “This Is Your Life” party recently.

Tough as she might have been, Miz Em is a sweetie to the Senior Girl Scouts in Troop 1079 in Anaheim. And it’s been that way for the 25 years she has served as a Girl Scout leader and adviser.

“At the senior level we like to get away from the word leader, “ said Morse, who retired a couple of years ago after 20 years as a legal secretary in the city attorney’s office in Anaheim. “The girls pretty much run the troop.”

If anything rankles Miz Em, though, it’s what she calls the unwarranted reputation assigned to Girl Scouts.

Scouts in the junior high school age group, she said, are saddled with reputations as goody-goodies and don’t want to be seen in their uniforms. “They want to be accepted so badly. What friends think is so much more important than anything. But when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, they are really proud of their uniform.”

That’s less of a problem with the seniors, she said. “They know who they are, but the scouts in junior high get a lot of pressure from those not in the movement who don’t understand what it’s all about.”

As for how scouting has changed over the years, she said, “It isn’t all peaches and cream today. You get a real cross section, and a lot of kids are from a single-parent family.

“The newspapers are filled with the problems of the young today, but if any of our girls are having a problem we try to help them work it out.”

Ironically, Morse herself never became a Girl Scout, though she wanted to be one badly.

“I was brought up during the Depression, and my family couldn’t afford the dues or the uniform. It was a luxury they couldn’t afford.”

But you can’t keep her out of it now.

“My husband (Al Morse) keeps asking me how long I’m going to do it,” she said. “I tell him probably just a couple of more years, but it keeps going on.”

Working with her “young ladies,” as Miz Em calls her troop members, is a refreshing experience.

“You get to know the lingo and what’s in today and out tomorrow,” she said. “I like that, and they are all so bright.”

Except for being a wife and parent, she said, scouting has been the most fulfilling part of her life.

“I can’t give it up. I can’t imagine what my life would be without it.”

Having a picture taken with Santa Claus is a big draw at the Laguna Hills Mall. But Jill Strief said mall officials weren’t prepared for the number of people who wanted to get their pets into the picture.

“It was amazing,” said Strief, assistant marketing director for the mall and a Laguna Beach resident. “People were waiting in line 3 1/2 hours,” she said. The mall had set aside a special three-hour block for the picture-taking sessions for pet owners. Most brought dogs, cats or birds, but two brought their pigs.

The unexpectedly large response among pet owners means that the mall will probably revamp the program next Christmas, she said.

Pet owners paid $5 apiece for the Polaroid pictures; the money was donated to the San Clemente Animal Shelter.

And these were no ordinary Santas.

“They were veterinarians who donated their time,” she said, adding, “it was so much fun.”

For $1,512 you can join Fullerton College photography instructor Al DeVito on a nine-day picture-taking excursion to Oahu, Maui, Hawaii and Kauai in early January.

The subjects will include volcanoes, underwater environments, rain forests, bird sanctuaries and community life in non-tourist areas.

But participants had better be prepared to rough it. Some of the lodging will be in tents.