Roger Darrell Morris
Roger Darrell Morris (79) of Alpine, UT, passed away on January 17th, 2022, surrounded by loved ones after a valiant battle against complications following an acute illness.
Roger was born on May 23rd, 1942, to the late Everett James Morris and Maxine Allen Morris Randrup in Fresno, CA.
He graduated from Fresno High School in 1960. While in school, he excelled in Auto and Metal Shops. Roger made many impressive creations, including a complete working lawn edger from scratch. His shop teacher asked him to enter his lawn edger into Fresno College’s Auto and Mechanical Engineering Exhibit. Roger said, “No, I want to use the edger for my lawn mowing business.”
Roger joined the Navy at age eighteen for four years, where he received Machinist training and was stationed on the USS Princeton, a helicopter aircraft carrier. He toured the Pacific Rim and ended his Navy stint during the Vietnam Conflict.
After the Navy, Roger worked in the aerospace industry at Rocketdyne making parts for the Apollo 11 rocket that landed on the moon. His career has spanned sixty years with the latter half as a Tool and Die Maker. He worked in a wide variety of industries and venues. Roger could fix anything. He saw the details of the world in thousandths of an inch. He saw problems others did not, but he also knew the solutions. Everything he made looked better than if it had come from the store.
His hobbies included meaningful conversation, riding and restoring all kinds of motorcycles, experiencing performance motorsports, watching slap-stick comedies, action movies, and musicals. He loved music, specifically the saxophone, and dancing to the romantic hits of the 50s and 80s. He had a thirst for knowledge and researched everything from scriptures to cutting-edge technology.
Roger was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and held many church callings. His favorite church calling was serving as an ordinance worker in the Mount Timpanogos Temple for the last seven years.
Roger is predeceased by his parents; brother-in-law Harry Lewis Phillips; niece Christine Marie Macfaddin; grandchildren Carter McKensie Morris and Eden Camile Swenson. Roger is survived by his wife, Camile Jackson Morris; his sisters Jeanne Carol Phillips and Linda Ruth Macfaddin; his half-brother Gordon Leslie McNamee; seven children Christopher, Scott (Jennifer), Michael (Jessika), Samuel (Kyndra), Taber Michael Schroeder (Mini Anden), Rachel Schroeder Swenson (Jeremy), and Hillary Schroeder Gillespie (Davy); seventeen grandchildren, Christian, Cole, Jessica, Noah, Paige, Oliver, Asher, Sarah, Lyla, Orias, Georgia, Felix, Tucker, Winslow, Jack, Ezra, and one more on the way.
Roger’s greatest treasure was his wife Camile and their family, immediate and extended. His laughter, extensive vocabulary, prophecies, and insightful commentaries were immediately missed. His family will cherish his memory until they meet again.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 am on Wednesday, January 26, 2022 at the Mountainville 3rd Ward Chapel, 901 East Village Way, Alpine, Utah. Family and friends may call on Tuesday, January 25, 2022 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the church and again on Wednesday morning from 9:30 to 10:30 am prior to services. Interment will be at the Utah Veteran’s Memorial Park in Bluffdale.