Morris Alma Thurston

Morris Alma Thurston, a native of Annabella, passed away at his home in Ventura, California on June 29, 2006. He was 94 years old.
Morris was born November 15, 1911, the third of ten sons of Edwin Elroy and Nelsine Martine (Sorensen) Thurston. In 1921 he moved with his family to Richfield, graduating from RHS in 1930 with letters in football, basketball and track. During the height of the Depression (1934-36), he served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kentucky and West Virginia. When he returned he put himself through Utah State Agricultural College, graduating with a BS degree in civil engineering in 1941. Shortly after graduating, Morris married Barbara Ashcroft of Hyde Park in the Logan Temple on July 8, 1941.
Following the wedding, the young couple moved to Watsonville, California, where Morris worked as a civil engineer for the Department of Agriculture’s Soil Conservation Service. World War II intervened and in December 1942, Morris applied for a commission in the Navy. He served as a SeaBee in the Pacific Theater during World War II, primarily on Tinian Island, helping in the effort to build the largest airport in the world at that time. He returned home in November 1945 and continued his employment with the SCS in California, first in the northern Sacramento Valley, then in the San Fernando Valley, where he designed flood control channels. He retired as a government employee in 1963 and then worked for several engineering firms in Ventura.
Morris was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in many leadership and teaching capacities through the years. In 1981-82 he and Barbara were missionaries for the Church in Arkansas. For the last 23 years he has been a volunteer worker in the Los Angeles Temple. In 1999 he published his personal history, titled Long Trail Winding, a fascinating book that has become a model for life story writers. He was a descendant of Tora Thurston, a Norwegian native who was one of the founders of Annabella.
Morris had been married to Barbara for 63 years when she passed away in 2005. In his final months he suffered from kidney cancer. He is survived by three of his brothers, Bruce Thurston of St. George, UT; Doyle Thurston of Orem, UT; and Robert Thurston of Bountiful, UT; and by his six children, Morris Ashcroft Thurston of Villa Park, CA, Mary Kaye Gardner of Tempe, AZ, Bonnie Holm of Chandler, AZ, Carolyn Selden of Woodbury MN, Wanda Ostler of Fremont, CA and Cheryl Reeder of Westminster, CO, as well as by 28 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his brothers Ross, Walter, Nile, Ivin, LeRue, and Kimball Thurston.
A funeral service will be held on July 8 at the LDS Stake Center in Ventura. A memorial service will be held in Logan on Monday, July 10, at 11:00 a.m. at the Allen-Cranney Mortuary (430 E. 1800 N.) He will be buried in the Hyde Park cemetery.