James Jim Howard Morton

Jim was born April 4, 1942 in Yakima, WA to Howard and Barbara (Mattern) Morton. He was raised and educated in Zillah. He married Rosemary (Twinkie) Wegmuller on Dec. 15, 1964.

Jim started out hauling livestock with his father and brother in the family business, Morton & Sons, and eventually went into custom hay stacking. He was hauling livestock into the sales yard when he met his wife, Twinkie. Jim then expanded the family business and started hauling bark. He later started cattle ranching and tried his hand at farming. Jim was a Certified Welder, and worked at Hanford, as well as Satsup. Later Jim worked as a contracted log hauler for various logging companies, and also did road construction. Jim enjoyed ranching and driving truck up until his death. “You could always hear Jim coming in his “Silver Bullet” and loud trucks”.

Jim is survived by his wife, Rose “Twinkie” Morton; son, Greg (Jeanne) Morton; two grandchildren, Lance and Tara Morton all of Toppenish; brother, Dick (Angela) Morton of Yakima; brother-in-law, Fred “Buddy” (Marie) Wegmuller of Toppenish; and his other “son”, Darwin Sockzehigh of Toppenish. He was preceded in death by his parents.

Viewing will be 12:00 noon on Friday, February 11, 2011 at the Toppenish Community Center, with the funeral service to follow at 1:00 p.m. Merritt Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.