Shelica De-Ray Morton born May 13, 1976, the middle child of 3 to Virginia Louise Morton.
In 1979 my mother became a quadriplegic as a result of an automobile accident. My brother, sister and I then went to live with and be raised by my grandmother Lydia Overton. We moved into Brokenburr Apartments in 1982. I attended IPS School 112 throughout my elementary school years. I later attended Manual High School.
In 1994 I began working for Hardees Restaurant located in the 2200 block of North Meridian. A few days prior to my birthday my brother came to visit me at my work and was killed. My brother was my mother’s oldest child.
After my brother’s death I left Hardees and began working at Burger King located downtown. It was during my employment at Burger King that I moved from the apartment I shared with my mother, grandmother, and younger sister into my very first apartment. I signed a lease in the former Hoosier Apartments downtown. Although I enjoyed the responsibility and sense of maturity of having my own apartment, following a series of violent events, one of which being the murder of a young woman in the apartment building, I moved and signed a lease with Stone Key Apartments located on the southeast side of Indianapolis, not far from where I was raised.
After having worked part-time at Burger King for a little over 3 years, I began working full-time at Marsh Supermarket in Beech Grove.
On February 3, 1998 I gave birth to Twanyae who was to be the first of my three beautiful daughters. I continued working for Marsh and also began taking classes to become a CNA which I am and have been for the last 9 years.
In November 1999 my grandmother who had continued to provide primary care for my mother, passed away. It was at this time I began assisting in the care of my mother who now lived in an area adjacent to Stone Key. During this time an extremely large percentage of my family lived in the Stone Key area.
On August 13, 2001 I gave birth to Talica my second daughter. After her birth I moved from a 1 bedroom apartment in Stone Key to a 2 bedroom and remained at Stone Key for several years. In 2006 I moved from Stone Key to Laurelwood, an Indianapolis Public Housing Project. However, I moved back to Stone Key after only 1 year.
After leaving Laurelwood I also left my employment with Marsh and became a full-time CNA.
On August 9, 2008 I gave birth to my third and final child Trinity.
After having lived in apartments all of my adult life, most of which were either subsidized or public housing I felt that it was finally time for me to have my “own” home. I believe that I am now financially capable of providing “that” home for me and my girls and that it is the best gift that I can give them.
Although I still have a family on the southeast side, and that there is a chance that I will miss the closeness of having my mother, sister, remaining aunts, cousins and numerous friends literally only a few doors away, I am looking forward to starting a new chapter in the lives of my children and myself.
I believe that the next chapter to be written on Shelica De-Ray Morton will read Shelica Morton “homeowner.”