Jim D. "Dozer" Morford passed away on Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at MercyOne
Medical Center in Des Moines.
Memorial services for Jim Morford will be held on Monday, April 11, 2022 at
11:00 AM at First United Methodist Church, 201 3rd Avenue North East in Clarion
with Reverend Mike Gudka officiating. A private family burial service will take
place prior to services at the church.
Visitation will be held on Sunday, April 10, 2022 from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM at
Ewing Funeral Home, 1801 Central Avenue East in Clarion.
CLICK HERE to view Jim's memorial tribute slideshow
[https://www.tributeslides.com/tributes/show/FHRBM9KK3ZNKYZ68]
Jim was born January 5, 1947 to Maurice and Betty (White) Morford, in Hampton,
Iowa. Jim graduated from Clarion High School in 1965. Following high school, Jim
attended Minnesota State where he obtained his degree as a draftsman. He then
spent 6 years in the Air National Guard, working as logistics during the Vietnam
War. Following his time in the Air Guard, he worked for Caterpillar in Mason
City as a mechanic. Jim joined the Masonic lodge and went on to become a Master
Mason and joined the El Kahir Shriners, which he was passionate about.
Jim was a man of many hats and numerous jobs, all of which involved operating
heavy machinery. He worked for Bill Giess Construction, Rock Island Railroad on
train derailments, as a machine operator for Wright County and owned and
operated Morford machine, which his two boys proudly still help operate.
Jim is a proud father of his four children Ben, Joe, Ryan and Sara. He married
Janice (Lester) Morford in October 1989 and together they raised and cared for
their family on the farm until he moved to his little piece of paradise at Elm
Lake. Jim was always sharing a wide range of knowledge and ethics with his
children, including hard work, technical skills and how to be a good person in
life.
For those who got to know Jim, there were a few things that really made his
wheels go round. First was metal. He loved to go to the shop and work on his
heavy equipment or on his seasonal work, building snow plow shoes for the county
trucks. He seemed to always be tinkering around or fixing something. The man
loved getting his hands dirty and rebuilding some piece of antique machinery.
When you couldn't find Jim at his shop, he probably was out working on his dozer
pushing dirt. He loved cars and loved watching them go fast and was very proud
of his '76 Corvette. On Sunday mornings you could find him getting his morning
coffee and heading to Eagle Grove to get the word on how the Saturday night
stock car races went. Jim enjoyed being at Elm Lake, in the house he moved, made
additions to and called his home, spending his time tinkering in his garage on a
toy train or a clock set, working in his garden, or cruising around with Buster
the dog and checking on the neighbors. He really enjoyed visiting with everyone
and cooking the sweet corn for the annual sweet corn feed at Elm Lake.
The legacy of Jim Morford will continue on in the hearts of his wife Janice;
sons Ben, Joe and Ryan (Ali) Morford; daughter Sara and (fiancé Josh) Morford
and their daughter Bella; sister Bobbi (Dwight) Tyrrell and Buster the dog. Jim
was greatly anticipating his new grandson, baby Morford.
He is preceded in death by his mother and father.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the El Kahir Shrine where it
will benefit the Shriners hospital for kids.