Donald G Morris

The family of Donald Gary Morris are heartbroken to inform you that he has passed peacefully away in his Sun City home on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, surrounded by the love of his family.

His family had been so sure that he would survive this last bout of ill health as he had stated he “wanted to live.” And had fought so hard in four other close calls in this past year. But this last time on Monday the day before he died, he had finally told his wife of 54 years that he was tired of fighting and was just having so much pain, he asked her to finally call hospice, that he was finally ready to stop fighting. Hospice of the Valley soon came over and informed his family he was now “actively dying" and made arrangements to give him medications to help with his pain and anxiety, and immediately got him comfortable in the hospital bed. He would pass away the next afternoon with many family members and friends at his bedside.

Donald was born to parents who were both Army veterans down in Appling, Georgia in 1950 where he and his two brothers, David, and Paul, enjoyed an idyllic childhood of running outside and exploring all day long. Unfortunately, his parents divorced when he was ten years old, and his mother decided to move her three boys back up to Ohio to raise them near her parents and family.  It was there that Don had a chance to bond with his older cousin John Jerome, and it was through him that Don had looked up too many years as a father/older brother figure. It was John who taught Don how to shoot and they spent many wonderful days shooting, trapping, and skeet shooting. John was the one who co-signed for him to buy his first rifle. They went on many memorable hunting trips in Nebraska to shoot turkeys and pheasants.

When Don was eighteen years old, he met and fell in love with the love of his life, Claudia Dotterer but was shortly drafted into the Army. Because he signed up for an extra year with more schooling, he wasn’t sent to Vietnam, but was instead assigned to the First Signal Battalion in Kaiserslautern, Germany for the remaining 2 1/s years, where his wife joined up with him. The following year they had a daughter Michelle, who was born on Ramstein Airbase in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany. It was there that they met a fun loving older German couple and moved in and shared their home with another American family that lived in their home with them.  The couple had a son their same age who was in their German army and they shared many fun times with them, traveling all over the country in their $25.00 Volkswagen!

After Don was discharged from the service in 1973, he started working at Morgan Adhesives, Mactac in Stow, Ohio making "sticky paper," but the company soon was written off as a business loss by it's Canadian firm.  Don and his wife then had two more children in the meantime, both boys, named Michael and Brandon.  Don was then offered to transfer to Riverside, California and be their new plant manager, where his family followed him for the next 2 1/2 years.  The plant was then made into just a shipping plant, so Don was offered to become the new plant manager in Terre Huate, Indiana, but he turned them down as he decided he wanted to move to Chino Valley, Arizona to be near his cousin John Jerome once again.

At this time Don was hired to work with his cousin at the gunmaker plant Ruger, where he spent several years teaching his children how to hunt and use a gun, and ride 3 wheelers. Meanwhile, his wife was working quite a bit in Phoenix, Arizona, so they decided to move down to the valley after their last child graduated from high school in Chino Valley.  It was there that Don answered an ad for a plant manager at AZ. Coat Adhesives which made “sticky paper” also in Scottsdale Airpark in Scottsdale, Arizona, and where he then worked for the next 30 years until January 2023, when he started having health problems, which forced him to take a sudden retirement, which he truly hated. He swore the reason he got sick each time wouldn’t have happened if he was still working at AZ. Coat.  For 30 years, he actually loved going to work with this great group of guys, Tom, and Ralph the owners, Ken the chemist, and Pedro, Danny, and Norman, who could run anything that Don asked them to do without questions asked. Also, Dominick, who he loved working with, but teaching school was his calling and he was the only one who didn’t stay like the others had.

Don loved all his toys, his 3 wheelers, his quad, his side by side, his 4x4 trucks, his boat and RV's but he loved his kids to death. Most of all and loved going camping with them or watching their football or baseball games or taking them to gymnastics.  They shared his love of dogs, which they rarely had less than three at a time in their home. But the love of his life was his chocolate lab “Bud” who he loved and the one he said he missed the most and hoped he would meet him in heaven one day.

He is survived by his wife, Claudia, of 54 years, daughter Michelle Chester, Son-In-Law Casey Chester, and two sons, Michael Morris and Brandon Morris, He also had 4 grandchildren, Tanner Cline, Ryan Morris, Hannah Morris, and Kylie Morris.

Due to friends and family and neighbors who are snowbirds and returning to their northern home or who live out of state in California, Nevada, Florida, and Ohio, we have decided not to have a memorial service for Don at this time. Instead, we will offer this obituary and a photo memorial of Don’s life with Menke Funeral and Cremation Center in a few days and will follow-up with grave side services when the temperatures are cooler at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona 15 23029 North Cave Creek Road, just north of the 101. In the meantime, in lieu of flowers, Don had asked for donations for the closest dog shelter near you or for Hospice of the Valley.

The family would like to mention their many thanks for the wonderful care and support of his primary care physician Dr. Michelle Velasquez, Lindsay her sweet and kind Care Coordinator, and Miklila, the sweet nurse assistant, the very many people involved with the Lung Institute, the wonderful Banner Home Care physical therapists Collins, and Dave, and Beverly, occupational therapist, and the Hospice of the Valley for their wonderful care of our husband and father in our greatest hour of need. Lastly, to David and Vicki at Menke Funeral Home in Sun City for their gracious manner and patience to a grief-stricken family after losing a loved one.