William B McMorris

William B. McMorris, 83, of Gold Canyon, died April 5, 2012 after a lengthy illness with prostate cancer. He was born Feb. 15, 1929 in Memphis, TN to Benard R. and Loretta E. McMorris, who predeceased him. He came to Phoenix with his parents in 1931 and spent all of his early life in the city. He graduated from Creighton Elementary School, North Phoenix High School and Arizona State College at Tempe (now ASU) with a BA degree in English and Journalism. While at ASC he edited the college newspaper, the State Press, served as campus correspondent for the Arizona Republic and the Phoenix Gazette and wrote freelance articles for Boys’ Life, a publication of the National Office of the Boy Scouts of America. Many of those articles described the activities of the Explorer Post #1, The Kachinas, of which he was a member. This unit of older Scouts specialized in rock climbing and mountaineering and made numerous ascents in Arizona as well as side trips for climbs in Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado. On graduation from college in 1950 he was invited to join the staff of Boys’ Life in New York City as an assistant editor and traveling correspondent, writing about and photographing Scouting activities throughout the nation. Drafted into the U.S. Army near the end of 1950, he served in Occupied Japan as a Special Agent of the Counter Intelligence Corps during the Korean War. After military service he rejoined the staff of Boys’ Life for a year and then returned to Phoenix where he worked as a freelance writer, part time reporter for the United Press and, in what he considered the single finest event of his life, married Jo A. Marshall, a former ASC classmate. In 1956 he was invited to return to Boys’ Life as an associate editor and in his free time wrote a book about mountaineering for teenage readers. Publication of the book led to his becoming editor of children’s books and a board member of three New York publishing houses. In 1970 he returned to freelance writing, working out of his home in New Jersey and enjoying family camping in several eastern states with his wife and their three children, Michael, Susan and Patricia. Out of the family camping experiences came two outdoor cookbooks, co-written with his wife. In 1973 he returned to Boys’ Life as Executive Editor, eventually becoming Editor-in-Chief of the magazine division of the Boy Scouts of America, the position he held on his retirement to northern California in 1992. During his career as writer and editor, he published books, magazine articles, short stories, photographs and poetry for young readers and adults. Following the death of his wife in 2008 after 54 years of marriage, he returned to the valley area and took up residence in Gold Canyon near family members. Survivors include: son Michael McMorris and daughter-in-law Julie Erin Speck-McMorris and grandchildren Liam and Anya Speck-McMorris of Dickerson, Md.; daughter Susan McMorris of Cleone, CA; daughter Patricia Frick and son-in-law Daniel Frick of Houston, TX; brother Thomas A. McMorris, sister-in-law Mary Jo McMorris and nephew, Brian McMorris of Gold Canyon, AZ.