Roll Call Tribute

Published in The (Fort Collins CO) Coloradoan from Jan. 18 to Jan. 21, 2018

Stanton R. Morrison(1924 - 2017)
Stanton R. Morrison

Windsor - Stanton Morrison completed his life on Decemeber 8th, 2017 in Windsor, Colorado.

He was born December 10, 1924 in Greencastle (Sullivan County) Missouri. He lived there until he entered the Army Air Force in February 1943. He was the son of Ross and Grace Jones Morrison. He also was the great, great grandson of Judge R. D. Morrison who emigrated from Bedford County, Tennessee to Missouri in 1840. Judge Morrison, in turn, was the great, great grandson of James Morrison who was born in Scotland in 1677 and immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1730. James' sons later settled in what is now Iredell County, North Carolina.

Stanton had ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War and on both sides of the Civil War. He was a veteran of WW II, serving in the 20th Air Force as a B-29 navigator on Tinian island. After the war he served on Guam as a navigator on photo-mapping aircraft flying missions to various Western Pacific islands. After four years of active duty, be joined the Reserves for twenty-six years and retired as a lieutenant colonel. His last assignment was as commander of a reserve civil engineering unit at Mather Air Force Base, California.

Stanton received a BS degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Missouri in 1950 and an MS in the same field from Texas A & M University in 1951. He earned a PhD degree in Engineering from the University of California in 1963. He was a practicing engineer for thirty-six years, holding positions with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, the British Honduras Department of Agriculture, and the California Agricultural Experiment Station. He also was on the faculty of the University of California, Davis for twenty-eight years, retiring as a Professor Emeritus in 1988. During his professional career at Davis, he was the author or co-author of over 100 technical papers, most of them dealing with the environmental and engineering aspects of livestock production. He was a member of several scientific and professional organizations and in recognition of his service to the rice industry in British Hondorus was also made an honorary member of the of the British Empire (MBE) on Queen Elizabeth's 1958 Birthday Honours list. During the 1980s he had a farm in Belize.

Stanton returned to Missouri in July 1990, exactly forty years after leaving, and settled on a farm near West Plains. His main interest there was horticulture. He was active in the West Plains Regional Animal Shelter and the spay and neuter assistance program. He had a great deal of interest in the MSU West Plains Garnett Library, was a member of the Friends of the Library, and was instrumental in starting the rare book collection there. He moved to Windsor, Colorado in 2007.

Among his survivors are: three children, Denise of Zurich, Switzerland, Keith of Monterey, California, and Curtis of Basel, Switzerland; and two step children, Bruce of Beulaville, North Carolina, and Arlene of Texas; also many friends in Davis, West Plains and Windsor.

He was the last surviving member of his WWII B229 Bomber Crew.