Joseph Morris

 Joseph Richard Morris, 85, of Eloy died on Dec. 18, 2023.

Pastor Morris was born on May 6, 1938, in Mist, Oregon, to Roy L. and Helen I. Morris. He and his family moved to Detroit, Oregon, in 1939 and then moved to his grandfather Morris's farm near Green City, Missouri, in 1953. His family lived near the Walt Disney house in Marceline, Missouri, in 1954. He graduated high school in 1957 and served in the Air Force from 1957 to 1961, when he was honorably discharged. Being in the Air Force gave him the opportunity to travel not only in the U.S. but overseas to Iwo Jima, Japan, as well.

He married the love of his life, Delores M. Stoorford, on April 14, 1961, and had two children. He then started working as a civilian at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana in charge of the entomology department in civil engineering. On July 16, 1969, he was baptized in Jesus's name at United Pentecostal Church in Bossier City, Louisiana. He then received the Holy Ghost on July 17, 1969. In 1971, he went to Tupelo (Mississippi) Bible Institute. When he left Bible school he went to work with the Rev. Jerry Eastridge in Tohatchi, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation. In 1972 he left to evangelize and in September of that year he became pastor of United Pentecostal Church of Eloy. He eventually was elder pastor there and his grandson Timothy Morris became pastor at the church.