September 21, 2022

Loudonville – Members of the Morse family were joined by Bishop Terry R. LaValley and representatives of the diocese and St. Mary’s Church in Clayton for the dedication of Siena College’s Peyton’s Path and Stations of the Cross in memory of Peyton Morse, who died in March of 2021.

“Peyton Morse ’21 was a beloved member of the Siena College community,” the event program noted. “He lived his life in dedication to the Franciscan spirit to serve others as a firefighter. Peyton lost his life in the line of duty on March 12, 2021, nine days after suffering a medical emergency during training at the New York State Academy of Fire Science.

“Peyton’s home parish, St. John the Evangelist in LaFargeville, New York, closed in June of 2021. In memory and honor of Peyton they gifted their Stations of the Cross to Siena College.”

The college noted that the donation of the Stations of the Cross, coupled with a donation from a member of the Siena College Class of 1964, John T. Leonard, enabled it to create Peyton’s Path.

“Like St. Francis, who found God within nature, Peyton also found peace and joy in the outdoors,” said Father Larry Anderson, O.F.M., Siena’s chaplain. “Peyton was a man of faith, and no stranger to the chapel or the Grotto.”

According to a release from Siena College, the path will join the campus’ existing chapel and Grotto as places of prayer, quiet and reflection for the Siena community and the larger Capital Region.

The path meanders through the woods alongside other outdoor recreation areas. Wood and glass cases with LED lighting were designed and built by Siena carpenters to house the fourteen stations that commemorate Jesus Christ’s last day on earth as a man. A stone bench at each station provides a quiet place to pause and reflect, the college said.