Oriel C. Morris (nee Flewell-Smith) was born on 21 October 1922, the daughter of Bernard and Mary Ethel Carlin 'Molly' Flewell-Smith (nee Darling). Her mother was the daughter of Charles Alfred and Ethel Maud 'Nettie' Darling (nee Carlin). Charles Alfred Darling was the son of South Australian merchant and grain exporter John Darling (1831-1905). Nettie Carlin was the daughter of Frederick Benjamin and Sarah Carlin (nee Brooke). The Carlins came to South Australia from London in 1847 and established themselves as storekeepers at Port Lincoln.
Oriel Flewell-Smith attended Ipswich Girls Grammar School. On 5 January 1944 she married Murrell Pinckney Morris, a US Army officer stationed in Brisbane. In 1945 she gained a medical degree from the University of Queensland. Following their move to the United States, Murrell Morris gained a PhD in Chemistry from LSU in Baton Rouge, Lousiana. From 1950 to 1959 the couple and their three daughters lived in Puerto Rico, where Oriel Morris practiced medicine in Mayaguez. In 1959 they moved to Arlington, Virginia. Two years later Oriel Morris completed a residency in internal medicine in Washington, DC and joined Group Health Association, where she practiced medicine for over 25 years. In retirement she enjoyed tennis, travel, cultural arts and family. She died on 2 September 2012.
For further information, see the obituary in Charleston Post & Courier, 5 September 2012.