John Francis Morris
Bonners Ferry Herald - December 29, 1993
John Francis Morris, 85, died at the Community Hospital E.C.F. Wing on Dec. 21, 1993. Funeral Services were held on Tuesday, Dec. 28, 1993, at the Bonners Ferry Funeral Home Chapel. Burial followed in the Porthill Cemetery.
John was born on March 22, 1908, in Scanlen, Minn., to Joseph Baptiste and Emma LeDuc. He attended schools at Westwood School. After his eduÂcation, he worked at the Buchanan Chevrolet Dealership in Kellogg, Idaho. Later he returned to Boundary County where he worked in the Continental Mine and farmed.
On April 30, 1928 he married Lela Valentine Stitch in Sandpoint, Idaho. In 1936, he moved to Canada to the Creston area where he farmed.
In 1939, he returned to the Porthill area where he logged and farmed. His logging ended in 1952 when they finished logging Mt. Hall. He continued farming until the early 1970s when he retired.
John resided at his Porthill home until 1990 when health problems forced him to move to Bonners Ferry where he has resided in the Community Hospital E.C.F. Wing until his death.
John was one of the last of the Porthill Odd Fellows, of the Hall Mountain loggers, and the last of the Porthill baseball team that beat Spokane in 1936.
Throughout his life John loved to hunt and fish and enjoyed calling square dancing, and played cards by the hour.
John is survived by one son. Cecil L. Morris of Bonners Ferry, Idaho; three daughters, Lois M. Perry of Modesto, Calif. Juanita F. McGraw of Camas Wash., Barbara A. Johanson of Bellevue, Wash.; one sister Dorothy Miller of Minnesota; 12(?) grandchildren and 32 great grandchildren. John was preceded in death by his parents; his wife Lela, a daughter, Edith; two brothers, Frank and Anthony two sisters, Marie and Gerlea(?) and two grandsons, Mark and Dan.
Memorials may be sent to the Mark Morris Scholarship Fund c/o Cecil Morris HCR 60 Box 211, Bonners Ferry, Idaho.
