Morgan Earl Hess was born October 25, 1932 in Bicknell, Utah to Morgan Chester Hess and Ellen Elizabeth Clarke. He was the third of eight children. He lived in Teasdale, until he started school, then moved to Spanish Fork, Utah and from there they moved to Murray, Utah where Earl attended the old Granite High School. When he was old enough he worked after school, as a boiler maintenance helper cleaning the furnaces and then for Kress’s store.
After graduation from high school and before turning 18 years old, Earl joined the Utah National Guard to avoid being deployed to Korea. Within hours of enlisting, his unit was called up and he was off to the war. Earl was first trained as a CAT operator before he was deployed but when Earl arrived in Korea, being among the last ones off the boat, he was asked what he knew about medicine. Never having been sick a day in his life, Earl was assigned as First Aid Attendant in a MASH unit. He served 23 months and received the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Service Stars and the United Nations Service Medal.
After returning home, Earl served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Northern States Mission, where he spent most of his time around Alberta, Canada.
After his mission, Earl attended the University of Utah, where he met his wife, LaRean Meyer, who was working for New York Life Insurance Company. They were sealed for time and all Eternity in the Salt Lake Temple on August 18, 1958. They had 5 girls and finally, one boy.
Earl was a Civil Engineer working for the United States Department of Agriculture. He worked on various watershed projects designing the Millsite Dam in Ferron, Utah. A golf course was built there, claiming to be the best golf course by a dam site. Earl’s career took him from Utah to Oregon then Hawaii. While living in Hawaii he served as Bishop in the Pearl City Ward. Earl eventually moved his family from Hawaii to Colorado. His work continued to send him to various places including Yemen, Africa and Cuernavaca, Mexico. While working in Mexico, Earl decided to retire and returned to Colorado.
After Earl’s retirement, he began serving in the Denver Colorado Temple in 1994, including serving as the assistant to the temple recorder. In 2007, he and LaRean served a two-year mission, serving their first six months in the Mexico City Temple and transferring to the Guayaquil, Ecuador Temple to complete the remainder of their missionary service. After returning home from their mission, they served in the Denver Temple again until after 2017.
Earl is survived by his wife, LaRean, his daughters Rae Lynne Hicks, Judy LaRean Kile, Lynda Seele, Sheri Ann Despain, Leanna Ulilani Felmlee and his son Morgan Evan Hess. He has 24 grandchildren, and 29 great-grandchildren.
Earl lived a full and honest life, even when he couldn’t remember anyone’s name, he still remembered his God, Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. This became Earl’s final testimony to his family that he knew God lives and all things are done in the name of his son, Jesus Christ.
