Jim Morford

Dateline: Clarion, Iowa 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, 2021 from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM at Ewing Funeral Home, 1801 Central Avenue East in Clarion.

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.

www.ewingfh.com

Ewing Funeral Home

1801 Central Avenue East

Clarion, Iowa 50525

515-532-2233