MORRIS, Michael Don "Mike" - b. December 30, 1941 - d. July 24, 2024

[patyrn]

Michael Don Morris was born December 30, 1941 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Leonard and Gladys Morris.  He passed away July 24, 2024.

Mike's father was a Santa Fe railroad track foreman, so the family moved a lot.  Mike's first job was a paper route at the age of 9 for the Tulsa Tribune in Meeker, Oklahoma.  After that, there were very few times he didn't have a job.  The family lived in Longton, Kansas for a time and then moved to Moline, Kansas where Mike graduated from Moline High School in 1959.  He quickly made new friends when the family moved, and his classmates elected him Class President in the 9th and 12th grades.  Those actions were a positive influence on him.  It made him expect that good things could happen to him.

Mike served four years in the United States Navy.  He needed the maturity and discipline to accept "whatever cards he was dealt".  He was a radar man assigned to amphibious ships.  His squadron was responsible for landing some 5000 Marines on a beach safely.  He became a radar man 2nd Class (E-5 NCO).  His final assignment was a Beach Jumper.  He was the lead NCO of nine men who were supposed to land on a beach six hours before the Marines landed and 50 miles up the coast.  They were supposed to confuse the enemy into believing that they were the landing forces. 

At age 22 and post-military, Mike married Beverly Ross in Nowata, Oklahoma and received a scholarship to Oklahoma State University in a Radiation/Nuclear Science program which was perfect for his intellectual preferences.  After graduation, he was hired at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico as a Radiation Safety Specialist.  He worked with some of the world's greatest minds as they built atomic bombs, nuclear reactors, and other nuclear research projects.  He also took over the nuclear counting lab.

Mike went to night school and got another degree while at Los Alamos.  His alma mater, Oklahoma State University, offered him a teaching position because of his experiences.  His philosophy for teaching quickly became two-pronged.  First, he wanted students to know and understand the basic principles of the profession.  Secondly, he insisted that they learn how to think.  He was a good professor.

The same "hand of providence" continued while he was on the faculty at Oklahoma State.  He started a Diagnostic Medical Physicist consulting service to test x-ray machines for hospitals.  The Diagnostic Medical Physicist profession did not even exist when he first began consulting. However, with the advent of modern electronics and computers, it soon evolved into a very satisfying career. 

Mike served four years as an Oklahoma State legislator and one year as the State Chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party.  Through his entire journey of life, he always remembered that he grew up a "gypsy boy" moving with his family from town to town as his father's job demanded.  The character qualities that he learned during his youth, he shared with and taught to the world.   

Mike is survived by his wife, Beverly; sisters, Wilma Smaligo, Margaret Gaylord, and Linda Dixon; grandchildren, Michaiah Hamel, Salem (Cameron) Dostert, Nathanael (MiKayla) Brown, Josiah Brown, Jason (Allie) Brown, Christopher Graves, and Kyra Underwood; and great-grandchildren, Jaime Hamel, Emma Hamel, Jensen Hamel, Beau Dostert, Tatum Dostert, Dak Dostert, Miracle Brown, Galex Brown, and London Brown. He is preceded in death by two daughters, Deidra and Karen; his parents, Leonard and Gladys Morris; and two brothers, Roy Morris and Ronald Morris.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Palmer Marler Funeral Home in Cushing, Oklahoma.

(taken from the Palmer Marler Funeral Home website)