Jerry Dell Morris

Jerry Dell Morris

1935-2024

Jerry Dell Morris-devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother-passed away on June 26, 2024, of causes incident to age.

Born April 28, 1935, in Westwood, California, Jerry was the fourth of five children of George Osborne Carter and Thelma Mae Terry. While growing up, Jerry enjoyed school, where she made many good friends. During high school, she lived with her beloved older sister, Patty Lou (Harris), and her family.

Jerry graduated in 1954 from Chico High School in Chico, California. While attending high school, she began dating Miles Ivan Morris. They married on February 6, 1955, in Chico, where their first two sons, Mark and Michael, were later born.

During Ivan's junior year at Chico State College, he was hired as a structural steel draftsman by Gate City Steel in Boise, Idaho, where he moved his family in 1956. A third son, Martin, was born in Boise.

Jerry supported the many moves her husband's construction career required. From Boise the family moved to Los Gatos, California; to Yerington and then Henderson, Nevada; and to Coalinga and then Petaluma, California. In Coalinga, Jerry and the boys were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 26, 1968, and Ivan then became an active member of the Church. On January 10, 1970, Jerry and Ivan were sealed in the Church's Oakland California Temple, and their sons were sealed to them.

In 1970, the family moved to Tucson, Arizona, where they lived for 10 years and where the boys attended high school. Jerry and Ivan made many sacrifices to give their sons a happy childhood, taking them on memorable hunting and fishing trips, and encouraging them in their academic, sports, band, Scouting, and Church activities. Jerry and Ivan also ensured that their sons received a college education.

While living in Tucson, Jerry became a certified nursing assistant, working for several doctors at the Tucson Medical Center. After their sons left home for college or Church missions, Jerry and Ivan moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where Ivan started his own construction company, Sun State Steel. Jerry attended firefighting school in Albuquerque and became a voluntary firefighter in Kingston. She also volunteered at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces and worked part time wallpapering and painting.

Jerry cherished visits from her children and grandchildren. She enjoyed cooking for them, playing games with them (especially cribbage), and taking them to the family cabin in Kingston and to White Sands National Park. She loved holidays, going all out when decorating for Christmas, Easter, and Halloween. And she found great joy in giving her children and grandchildren gifts at Christmastime and on their birthdays.

While in Las Cruces, Jerry and Ivan welcomed Matthias Bettenhäuser, a high school exchange student from Germany, into their home for the 1991-92 school year. Matthias became a lifelong friend, returning for visits with his own family and always remembering Jerry and Ivan, his "American parents," at Christmastime and on their birthdays.

From May 2006 to November 2007, Jerry and Ivan fulfilled an 18-month service mission in the Church's Florida Orlando Mission. There, they worked at the Church's Deseret Ranch near Deer Park, Florida, and served as temple workers in the Orlando Florida Temple. Of their memorable mission, Jerry wrote to her children, "We are at our best here and loving it all." Upon their return, they oversaw work in the Church's dry cannery in Las Cruces.

Jerry served in many Church callings over the years and became a dedicated visiting teacher and friend to her Relief Society sisters, serving and ministering to them with gifts and homemade food. She touched many lives for good and left behind many dear friends in Las Cruces when she moved to Utah in May 2023 to live with her son Michael and his family.

Jerry is survived by three sons and two daughters-in-law: Mark Ivan, Michael Ray and Susan, and Martin Dane and Symony; 16 grandchildren; and 23 great-grandchildren. Jerry was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Ivan, whom she missed dearly after he passed away on August 28, 2016; her brothers, George William (Billy), Guy Terry, and Nicolas; a daughter-in-law, Beth Morris; and a grandson, Christopher Wallace.

Family and friends are invited to celebrate Jerry's life on Monday, July 8, 2024, at the Idaho Chapel, Relief Society room, 2915 E. Idaho Avenue, Las Cruces, New Mexico. A viewing will begin at 9:30 a.m., followed by memorial services at 10:00 a.m. The memorial will be live streamed at Facebook.com/GetzFuneralHome. Dedication of the grave will then follow at the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens Cemetery, 5140 W. Picacho Avenue, Las Cruces, New Mexico.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the General Missionary Fund of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Philanthropies.ChurchofJesusChrist.org/Missionary.