"Dead Don" news segment on Don Morrison (Oct. 2002)

My grandpa Don Morrison outlived the breaking news of his death for 16 years! He tried acting for the 1st time at age 90. He filmed a band that he hired for his 50th anniversary, just 7 years before I started my career filming bands like The Color Pharmacy. He dropped me off the day I left on my first tour with them and he later came to one of their shows, although he preferred the time he saw Buddy Rich play in New York City on his way to World War II.

After the war, he tried out to play basketball as a walk-on for the Iowa #Hawkeyes. He said everyone there was faster than him, better than him at passing, better than him at shooting, and none of them made the team!

He wrote the following when he was 94, 2 years before he died:

EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US HAS THEIR OWN PERSONAL “LITTLE WORLDS” EXPERIENCES.
MY FIRST ‘LITTLE WORLD’ WAS IN OUR HOME TOWN OF WASHINGTON, IOWA. POPULATION AT THAT TIME AROUND 7000. 30 MILES SOUTH OF IOWA CITY.

I WAS BORN IN THE WASHINGTON COUNTY HOSPITAL, THE FIRST COUNTY HOSPITAL IN THE US. OUR HOME WAS ON WASHINGTON STREET, WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, CITY OF WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON COUNTY, IOWA.
GRADE SCHOOL WAS IN WASHINGTON CENTENNIAL GRADE SCHOOL. THEN WASHINGTON JUNIOR HIGH, WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1940, AND WASHINGTON JUNIOR COLLEGE CLASS OF 1942.

THAT WAS MY FIRST ‘LITTLE WORLD’

OUR NEXT ‘LITTLE WORLD’ WAS IN WW 11. I ENLISTED IN THE US NAVY. 4 MONTHS AS APPRENTICE SEAMAN AT ST. AMBROSE COLLEGE, DAVENPORT, THEN 4 MONTHS AT MIDSHIPMEN’S SCHOOL AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, CHICAGO, THEN 3 YEARS IN THE AMPHIBIOUS NAVY IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN, FIRST AS AN ENSIGN, SKIPPER ON LCT 329, AND THEN A LT(jg) ON 3 DIFFERENT LSTS.

MY NEXT ‘LITTLE WORLD’ WAS EARNING A MASTERS DEGREE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, GRADUATING IN 1949, EMPLOYED BY GENERAL MOTORS ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION AS A FIELD REPRESENTATVE, AND MARRIED PHYLLIS…ALL IN 1949. OL’ PHYL AND I THEN ENJOYED THE BEST AND HAPPIEST YEARS IN OUR ‘LITTLE WORLD’, TOGETHER WITH OUR 2 BRILLIANT EAGLE SCOUT SONS.

LIFE WITH GMAC WAS THE NEXT ‘LITTLE WORLD’. WE LIVED AND WORKED IN FOUR DIFFERENT CITIES, ALL IN IOWA, EACH WITH A PROMOTION, UNTIL I BECAME PROMOTED TO BRANCH MANAGER IN MASON CITY IN 1965. THIS INVOLVED WORKING WITH GM DEALERS IN THE UPPER 3 TIERS OF COUNTIES IN NORTH IOWA. THIS CAREER ENDED AFTER 31 YEARS WHEN THE MASON CITY BRANCH WAS ABSORBED BY THE KANSAS CITY REGION.
ANOTHER ‘LITTLE WORLD’

I RETIRED IN 1980, WE MOVED 10 MILES TO CLEAR LAKE, AND THUS ANOTHER HAPPY ‘LITTLE WORLD’. WE ENJOYED A HOUSEBOAT FOR 20 YEARS ON CLEAR LAKE, AND WE WERE BOTH BUSY AT ALL TIMES WITH VARIOUS VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES IN BOTH CLEAR LAKE AND MASON CITY.

OUR NEXT ‘LITTLE WORLD’ BEGAN IN 2009 WHEN OUR SON, BOB, WHO ORIGINATED THE HONOR FLIGHT OF THE QUAD CITIES, INVITED ME TO TRAVEL ON THE FIRST HONOR FLIGHT TO WASHINGTON, DC, AND, AT THAT TIME, WE WERE ALSO INTRODUCED TO INDEPENDENT LIVING IN RIDGECREST VILLAGE. THIS PROVED TO BE OUR BEST MOVE EVER, AND WE WERE QUICKLY AND HAPPILY ABSORBED INTO OUR NEW FAMILY THERE.

WE ARE NOW SITUATED IN OUR FINAL ‘LITTLE WORLD’…ASSISTED LIVING IN OAKWOOD PLACE, RIDGECREST VILLAGE. OUR HAPPY DAYS CONTINUE TODAY.