Edward Watt Morris

April 17, 1920 – April 18, 2012

Ed was born on a farm in Wayne, Oklahoma on April 17, 1920 to John and Edna Morris. His father died when he was only 6. He was raised by his mother and step-father, John Wood. He had 1 brother, Urban, who preceded him in death. As with many families in the depression, it was a hard life. He left home at age 14 to live with an uncle in the city. He worked many odd jobs to help support himself including caddying and ushering at a local movie theater in the days where you were walked to a seat by an usher with a flashlight. This was the only job he ever got fired from. He got caught up watching the movies and forgot he was supposed to be working.

He met his wife, Edna, as a senior in high school but they didn’t date until after graduation when a friend of his asked him if he would like to accompany him with a couple of girls on a date. Edna happened to be the other fellows date but within a couple of weeks she was Ed’s girl and would be for the rest of her life. They were married on November 1, 1941. Very soon after, the United States entered World War II and Ed joined the Air Corp in Ardmore, Oklahoma. He became a student pilot in 1942 in Phoenix. He was stationed in Texas, New Mexico, Nebraska, South Dakota and Oklahoma flying everything from single engine PT-17’s to commanding B-17’s as a 2nd Lieutenant. His crew called him Pappy because he was the old man at age 23. Little did he know that this would be the beginnings of a nomadic life that would last for many years. Edna followed Ed to the many places he was stationed in the U.S. during the war. Their 1st son was born on March 23, 1944. He left the Air Corp. after World War II while at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.

Their travels really started when Ed stopped at Dallas on the way out of the Air Corp. and got his first job in the oil business. Through mostly self-education and on the job experience he worked his way up through the ranks from the lowliest of exploration jobs, jughussling, to Exploration Crew Manager and eventually becoming one of Mobil Oil’s most respected Senior Geophysicists. Edna joined him with young Ronnie in El Reno, Oklahoma. This was move number 1 of 8 in the next 10 years. From El Reno they moved to Sulpher, Oklahoma then to Morgan City, Louisiana where daughter Cathy was born January 27, 1948. Next stop was Mt. Pleasant, Texas. After that there was a notorious trek to their next home in Ballinger, Texas. A few years later when interviewed by an oil industry magazine Edna was asked if she ever became disenchanted with the oil business. She replied that there was one time. That was the time they went 400 miles across Texas in one day from Mt. Pleasant to Ballinger. The whole (exploration) crew was moving, so Ed said he’d drive the recording truck and take Ronnie along. Edna hadn’t driven very much up until then, but she put baby, Cathy, in their car and off they went on a 400-mile ride.

From Ballinger it was on to Lovington, New Mexico, Oshkosh, Nebraska, Herford, Texas and Willows, California. The moves slowed down a little after the move to Salt Lake City, Utah where their second son, Scott, was born on May 27, 1954. They stayed there a whopping 5 years. In that time he was doing exploration in remote areas of Utah including the area where Lake Powell now exists. The oil industry declared it too remote for oil production and Lake Powell was born.

After Utah there was a short stint in southern California followed by 6 years in Roswell, New Mexico. In 1962 while living in Roswell he joined the Civil Air Patrol rising to the rank of Major and commanding the Roswell Squadron.

From Roswell he moved back to Southern California in 1966 then was very fortunate to be transferred to Denver in 1972 where he retired in the early 1980’s.

He kept active in the CAP in both California and Colorado mostly because it allowed him to indulge his love of flying. He quit in 1987 after 25 years.

The love of his life, Edna, died in 2002.

He was active in all churches he attended. He loved sports, especially golf, but over the years he has played and coached baseball, softball, and basketball. He bowled on various company teams too. He was known to be driving across Texas or Oklahoma with his family in the evening when it was a cooler drive while on vacation when he would see lights from a baseball game and the whole family would get out and watch teams they didn’t even know. He drove his children to ski almost every winter weekend in Utah but never really grew to love the sport for himself. He was self-educated in electronics by virtue of a correspondence course and was active in HAM radio for many years.

Although sometimes they were a source of great consternation, he loved his children and stuck by them through thick and thin. He leaves a legacy of 3 grand-children and 4 adorable great grand-children. They don’t make them like this anymore.