Obituary of Hershall Morgan

A Brief Life Story of Hershall Morgan Hershall Morgan was born September 10, 1922 in Kaufman, Texas, a son of William Dewey "W.D." and Minnie "Pearl" (Marshall) Morgan. W.D. and Pearl had 11 children, 8 of whom lived through adulthood. They raised their children in Texas and were farmers. Their first born, Archie, born in 1917, lived only for a month. Then William Daniel Dean "Dee" was born in 1918. Evangeline was born in 1920, and next was Hershall in 1922. Bertha Ozelma was next in line, born in 1924. She was called Bertha by her siblings, but a lot of her nieces and nephews called her Aunt Ozelma. Dewey J. was born in 1927 and drowned in a reservoir in 1935 at age 7 years. Perry was born in 1929 and next was Nettie Orena, born and died in 1932 at age 6 months. Hazel "Marie" was born in 1934, Odis Arthur in 1937, and Glenda Pearl in 1940. Hershall's brother Dee and sister Evangeline passed away in recent years. It is hard to imagine Pearl raising all of these children during the Depression Era. Hershall shared that their family was very much like the family in "The Grapes of Wrath." W.D. would load up his truck with all of the belongings they could carry, along with his family, and travel from farm to farm to pick cotton. They would sleep under the stars, and sometimes if it rained, they had a tent to pitch to keep them dry. They spent many summers working like this after the children were out of school. W.D. and Pearl were married in 1915. He was age 17 and she had just turned 16. They were married 74 years when W.D. passed away in 1989 at age 90. Pearl lived another 5 years and was 94 years old when she joined her mate in heaven. Hershall, in his later years, liked to talk about how he grew up and the struggles they endured. He graduated from the eighth grade, and then worked full time on the farm with his father and brother, Dee until he joined the military. Hershall joined the U.S. Army on December 21, 1945. He served with Company "A" 72nd Tank Battalion. He spent time in Alaska, possibly Kansas, and served overseas in Germany and France during World War II. He was lucky enough to get his discharge before his unit was scheduled to enter the Korean Conflict. He was discharged on December 23, 1948. Before his discharge, Hershall was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. He met Lorrene "Lorrie" (Giseburt) Campbell, and they were married December 30, 1948 in Spanaway, Washington. She had been previously married and had three young children; Lois, Beth, and John. Hersh and Lorrie then had two children, Dennis and Karen. Hershall became a true "Spongehead" as he made his home in Washington State. However, all knew he was a true Texan in his heart. And of the many jobs he held, working at Carsten's Hygrade and Alcoa Aluminum, and apple picking in Yakima (to name a few), as his children were growing up, his best times were when he worked in Fife at Brookville Gardens, the farm of Mr. Tom Yotsuuye. He was a true farmer and loved his gardening. Even in the last years of his life, he had beautiful flowers with his vegetables tucked wherever he could plant them. At one time, Hershall and his then 17 year old son, Dennis, worked for a janitorial service that was under contract with K-Mart. They worked the graveyard shift and when they arrived at work, they were locked in the store until the morning person came in and let them out. If they completed their cleaning early, they would have to just stay there until morning. So in the meantime, they would ride the bikes up and down the isles and got to play with the toys. They would be able to see what the new items were and check out the new clothing styles. They also were able to find out what the sales were. Sounds like a job most would enjoy. Some of the fondest memories the children hold in their hearts are the camping trips with their folks. They spent many a summer at Edward's Resort at Lake Lawrence in Yelm, Washington. And it was in the day of a very large tent and the back of the station wagon. There were no fancy RV's in those days. Hersh and Lorrie would load up the station wagon with all the camping equipment, clothes, and kids, much like Hersh's Depression years, and off they would go. But their trip was for "relaxation and enjoyment". Now, think about it. Just how much "relaxation" can there be when you have 5 children (or more if someone brought a friend) and you must keep track of them, keep them all fed, and try to keep them fairly clean and dry (we would camp right by the lake). And then there was keeping the camp site all clean. Lois remembers that her favorite time was when her dad would be up before the birds and make a nice campfire so that as she crawled out of her sleeping bag, there would be a nice warm place to gather around. Beth, John and Dennis recall that their dad took them out on the lake in a row boat and taught them how to catch sunfish. Needless to say, Beth really didn't like the fishing, but knew he did, so off she would go with them. Dennis and John still like to fish to this day. John remembers that Hershall and Lorrie would take the kids to the lake and stay for 10 days or more. During the week, Hershall would get up when it was still dark, drive all the way into town to go to work and drive back to the campsite in the evening. Lorrie would have supper ready, Hersh would spend time around the campfire with his family, then off to the sleeping bag he would go. He would then get up the next day and do it all over again. He made this commute so that his family could have extra time playing at the lake. Luckily, Lorrie had the three older children to help watch the two small ones while she cooked and cleaned the area. As the years passed, the children grew up and married and started having children. Hershall was a very proud grandfather and loved the little ones. Lois married Jerry Gillispie and had two children; Rob and Maureen. Jerry passed away and Lois married Bob Eriksen. Beth (having been married 4 times) had 5 children; Starla, Gary, and Jeff Mueller/Todd, Suzie, and Billy Todd. Then when Suzie was a teenager, Beth got a foster daughter, Liz, who remains in the family even now. Beth is currently married to Bubba Rykhus. John married Sharon Emery and they had 5 children; Mike, Terry, Scott, Laura and Amy. Dennis was married twice and had a son David and a step-daughter, Angela. Karen married Bob Harwood and they have no children. Hershall and Lorrie had a chance to buy property up by Mt. Rainier and gathered the clan to discuss the possibility of buying it. The children all went in on the purchase with them and bought a half acre of land at Echo Valley. This then became our new camping spot and where the grandchildren got inducted into camping. Many summers were spent up there camping, and when everyone was available to meet up there at one time, it was nothing but fun. Hershall and the guys built the shed and outhouse. And Hersh built cabinets and tables that were left there for use at all times. Everyone had their own tent spot and it was like a little village. The place was named MOGITOCAMO and there was even a sign made as such. The name came from the first two letters of each owner's last name beginning with Lorrie and Hersh, the oldest and ending with Dennis, the youngest (MOrgan, GIllispie, TOdd, CAmpbell, MOrgan). And Smokey the Bear sat on a shelf on a tree to remind everyone of fire safety. There were many fun times sitting around the campfire at night, telling stories and reminiscing. Hershall was one of the biggest storytellers ever. Having been born in Texas, he had some huge Texas tales to tell the grandkids. Someone would say, "Put on your boots, Grandpa has a story." And as young as the grandkids were, they would believe every word he said. As time passed, several of the kids bought camping trailers and the tenting was passed on to the grandkids. There were many gatherings at the Morgan home, from summer picnics, birthday parties, anniversaries, and weddings, to Hershall's favorite time of the year, Christmas Eve. Everyone would meet at their home and wait for Santa. The children would be sent to the bedroom to sing Christmas Carols and listen for Santa's bells. Once the bells were heard, the children would run to the living room and stand in awe, looking at the tree and all the presents Santa had brought. This was a tradition that Hersh and Lorrie's children had experienced when their grandmother was living and lived in the same house. Hershall's great-grandchildren are: Brandie, daughter of Rob; Daniel, Matt and Kara, children of Maureen; Tony, James, and Jerry, sons of Starla; Donaven, son of Gary; Jeffrey and Jessica, children of Jeff; Amanda, Andrea, Ashley, and Amber, daughters of Suzie; Sean, son of Billy; Ivory, Alexxa and Grace, daughters of Liz; Kaylin and Kourtnie, daughters of Scott; Kaleb and Lily, children of Laura; Tanner, son of David (David has two other children); and Porscha and Christian, children of Angela. He loved when he would get current pictures of the children to put on his bulletin board or set in frames around the house. The great-great-grandchildren are Brittany, Brookelyn and James, children of Brandie; Alexia, daughter of James; and Adin, step-son of Tony. Hershall was a home carpenter. He loved to work with wood and build things. He built a playhouse for his great-grandchildren and it was large enough for adults to go into it and stand. The kids really love that playhouse. He also built a small gazebo for them and a wooden lawn swing for his back yard. He made rocking horses and cradles for them, also. He built picnic tables and benches and lots of planters. During the last couple of years Hershall loved to go to the Elks with Lois and Bob to eat. He also liked to go play the slot machines at the casinos. When his sister, Ozelma, came to Washington, he made that one of the highlights of her trip. She and Hershall would go to the casinos when he made his yearly trip to Texas after Lorrie passed away, so he was glad he could take her to them here in Washington. Hershall was well liked by his neighbors. The neighbors called him the "Mayor" of Fawcett Avenue. He knew most of the neighbors by name, did lawn work for some of them, and kept track of everyone on his block. He even had some pet names for a few of them, such as "Jingles" for the man who visited his neighbor across the street because he drove an expensive car, or "Heartless" for the man down the street who had open heart surgery. Because he loved doing yard work, he took care of three other lawns besides his own every spring, summer, and fall - including this past summer. This is how he earned extra pocket money to spend when he went to the casino. Hershall was loved by all who knew him. They enjoyed his stories and his sense of humor. There will be a large empty spot in the lives of those who knew and loved him.