Morrison Widow to Speak at SBU

Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, former journalism student and widow of musician Jim Morrison, will be the keynote speaker at the annual Communications Day at St. Bonaventure University. Kennealy-Morrison will speak at 12:20 p.m. in Dresser Auditorium of the John J. Murphy Professional Building on Oct. 17. The talk is open to the public and sponsored by the Russell J. Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Communications Day aims to unveil the possibilities of a journalism profession to high school students and teachers who may have a budding interest in magazines, radio/television, public relations, newspapers or advertising. The Communications Day speakers who are well established and successful in an area of the media, will hold sessions varying from feature writing to conducting interviews, hoping to garner high schoolers’ interests in their respective fields.

Kennealy-Morrison, author of her memoir “Strange Days: My life without Jim Morrison” and “The Keltiad,” a series of Celtic science-fantasy novels, grew up in Babylon, N.Y. She attended St. Bonaventure University before transferring and graduating from Harpur College (now Binghamton University) with a bachelor’s degree in English literature.

Kennealy-Morrison was the editor-in-chief of Jazz & Pop, a progressive music magazine, from 1968 to 1971, during which she interviewed and wrote on many musical artists of that time. She became a two-time Clio nominee, has been acknowledged as an authority on Celtic and Arthurian legend and has been included in numerous reference books.

Kennealy-Morrison is working on her ninth Keltiad book, “The Cloak of Gold,” and other projects including a mystery series, a historical novel on Guthrum the Dane and surfing spirituality according to surfer Laird Hamilton. Her recent work includes “The Crystal Ship: The Priestess and The Shaman—The Spiritual Voyage of Patricia & Jim Morrison” and “The Gates of Overwave,” a children’s book.

In January 1969, Kennealy-Morrison met Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors, in a private interview. On June 24, 1970, the two were wed in a Celtic ceremony. Jim died on July 3, 1971, in Paris.

In 1990, Kennealy-Morrison was knighted as a Dame of the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (modern-day Knights of Templar) at Roslin Chapel in Scotland. She is a member of Mensa and has been a priestess in a Celtic Pagan spiritual tradition for 40 years. She lives in New York City.