After 24 years of dedication to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Doris “Ms. Doris” Morado, has retired.

For years, Morado worked with Community youth, first at the Early Childhood Education Center in 1999, then at Youth Services.

Though she will no longer be seen with a line of Community youth closely following behind her, Morado’s impact as a youth specialist will follow the children she impacted well into their adulthood.

“If you look at the Youth Services logo,” said Karina Watson at Doris Morado’s Retirement Farewell on January 30, “You’ll see a mama quail with a line of baby quails behind it. Doris is that quail, she’s been the mama quail for a long time, and she’s still going to be.”

Morado’s early days as “Mama Quail” began in 1999, when she first started at the Early Childhood Education Center. For about two years Morado worked as a teacher aide. Every morning, Morado drove one hour from Casa Grande to the Community. 

After two years, she moved to the Youth Services After-School Program, where she remained for about 22 years. Morado recalls her career here spanning multiple locations, from trailers behind Social Services, the old Helping Hands building, to the Way of Life Facility. 

“I love to listen to the kids, especially the five-year-olds,” Morado said. “They say funny things, make you laugh, and they’re just easy to teach because they’re little. That’s where you start with your kids.”

Throughout the change, Morado’s dedication to the youth remained constant. From coaching the T-ball team O’odham A’al, fieldtrips to the library, and those lucky enough to sample her warm and fluffy ce:mait, Morado shared her well-rounded set of skills to all those she met. 

“She treated kids as if they were her family,” said her former colleague, Leroy Eswonia. “She’s a role model, and there are only so many people who can teach us these things. She shared her gifts openly.”

One of her former students, Kennise McGertt, who first met Morado as a child, admitted she was initially intimidated by her. “When I was seven, I was terrified of her because she seemed stern,” McGertt said. “But when I was 14 and running for Jr Miss Salt River, I didn’t know the language. Doris sat me down and taught me how to introduce myself.”

Her tough love and knowledge from an older generation came from a place of resilience and healing.

Raised in the Gila River Indian Community, Morado had several education and career ventures before working in the SRPMIC.

In the 1980s, she attended college and pursued practical nursing, only to find it was not her fit. She then enrolled in substance abuse counseling classes and supported those in recovery. In her free time, she would frequent rodeos with her family.

However, in the early 90s, Morado faced the devastating loss of her daughter and grandchildren from a car accident. The grief left Morado in a lot of pain, but through counseling, support from her church and the tribe, and volunteering with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, she found healing.
“It hit me hard,” Morado said. “It took me years to get by, to get better to the point where I can talk about it and not cry. I lived through it myself, and maybe that’s why people say I’m so strong. But I don’t really think I am.”

Though Morado did not see her strong character, others around her did. Morado’s two remaining children shared their family’s losses left an impact on her, so when she found work in the Community, it became a source of healing and joy for her.

“It wasn’t a job to her. It was something she wanted to do. When you love your job, and coming to it every day, the long distance [Casa Grande to Salt River] didn’t matter to her,” said Morado’s daughter.

Morado’s strong love showed in the teachings she instilled in the Community’s children.

“It’s not us as her family that shared her with you guys, it’s her. The dedication, the loyalty, the love, everything. That’s to your Community, to the kids, and the kids that are adults now,” shared Morado’s daughter. “She instilled all these special things in your children that they’ll look back on when they’re older. Take the ball and run.”

Though she is stepping away from her Salt River and returning home to Casa Grande, Morado has no plans to slow down.

With the extra time on her hands, Morado hopes to finally secure enrollment with the Gila River Indian Community, take up sewing again, attend a few tribal rodeos, and maybe even take a trip to California with her granddaughters to sit in the crowd of a live Dr. Phil recording.

But what she’ll miss the most? “The kids, their funny little comments, and the happy times I had with the [Youth Services] staff,” she said.

Whatever retirement has in store for Ms. Doris, one thing is for sure: after 24 years of service to the Community, Morado’s legacy, the “mama quail of Youth Services” will live on in the hearts of the children, colleagues, and community members she has touched.

From the archives: We spoke to Doris Morado and Isaac Lopez from Youth Services in 2020, regarding their ce’cemait making video on the WOLF Facebook page. Watch and listen here.