Biography for

Jim Morris

After graduation Jim joined the U.S. Navy submarine services where he served on four different boats. During naval duty he patrolled the Arctic and took part in the Cuban crisis. After the navy for ten years he ran a portable sawmill where he made moldings and sold timber and firewood. He also drove an 18 wheeler OTR for 2 years and he has spent time in Colombia where he ventured into the import/export business. Then he served as a lineman for the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company for 34 years. After retiring in 2000 he worked with an electrical contractor and helped restore power in New Orleans after Katrina.

Jim has been married three times and has a total of seven children. He currently lives in the Philippines with his third wife and their four-year old twin girls. He has had a very full, interesting, exciting life and looks forward to the reunion and still rejoices in his taking first place in the four-mile relay in the 1961 Brooklyn Invitational Relays.

Here are some special stories from Jim.

Life's Trials and Tribulations

On one beautiful autumn day I was sitting on the porch of an old retired steelworker and part time farmer Croatian friend and neighbor. He turned and said to me, "You should write a book because your life has been so interesting."

My first thought and reaction was, then the world must be a boring place! But after a little thinking, maybe he was referring to an early Sunday morning chasing one of my run away horses down State Route 162 with my pick-up truck in hot pursuit. Or maybe the time a 600-lb. Black Angus who I tied a rope to and myself was dragging me around in the pasture. The Angus won that day, but he was in the freezer 6 months later.

Then there was a Halloween night on a two-story farm house shingling the roof at midnight when a roll of tar paper rolled down and took my ladder out. Being a newly crowned divorced there was no one to help me until the next morning when the Croat heard me calling to him for help. Then there was the emergency room visit when the tree I was cutting hit another tree that broke in half and landed on me. I could keep going so maybe he was right, it has been a very interesting run, and it hasn't stopped yet.

Memories

My most inspiring teacher would be Admiral Jack Mercer who started me in my running and Navy careers.

The best high school memory scholastically is Mrs. Leventry's Senior English class where I turned in a fake book report. Everybody received theirs back but me. I received the special recognition of a, "Please see me after class." After the classroom emptied Mrs. Leventry proceeded to let me know how much she enjoyed my book report. By this time I was on a real high. Then down came the hammer. "As much as I enjoyed it," she said, "you still receive an E for making it up." Needless to say, I read books from that day on.

My best athletic memory was the 1961 Brooklyn Invitational Relays. The last track meet of the year, the last race of the meet, running against my old rivals and taking first place in the 4-mile relay. What a great feeling. It doesn't get any better than that…and I still remember it like it happened yesterday.

Class Yearbook Prophesy

I don't have my class yearbook anymore, but I do remember my class prophesy which was something like, I travel to Tibet where you find me on my head playing the guitar saying, "You've got to feel the beat." Well, I haven't made it to Tibet yet, but the Philippines is close, and I still dig Gun's and Roses, Scorpion, ACDC and Ozzie and Black Sabbath. So somebody with the class prophesy just about had me pegged right a long time ago.

They say everybody gets 15 minutes of fame in their lifetime. Well folks I'm still waiting for mine. Until then I will keep running the high road feeling so fortunate for everything given me because I know the hour glass is glued to the table.

I hope to see as many of my classmates as possible at the big "50." We have all gotten older, gained weight, lost hair, do I need to go to. Like the Eagles song, "Take it Easy" says, "We may lose, we may win, but we will never be here again."

You only go around once and this reunion is part of that cycle. There will be many memories to be had. When it's all over, I'm sure you will walk away saying, "I'm glad I came." Hope to see you there.