10/13/2025
James Howard Morrison, died peacefully at his home in Weatherford, Oklahoma on Thursday, October 9, 2025. He was 88.
Jim was born on June 4, 1937, to Alonzo Louis (A.L.) and Ora Pearl Morrison, in Higley, Arizona, near Gilbert, where his parents and siblings Lila, Louada and Dwight had relocated escaping the Dust Bowl of western Oklahoma.
In 1943, the family returned to Sunny Point, near Sayre, Oklahoma where baby sister Phyllis was born. The Morrisonβs rented land and worked pulling cotton for nearby farmers. Even at 6 years old, Jim remembered with pride collecting 200lbs of cotton for $2.50 a day.
He was introduced to Godβs love during Sunday School in a one-room church with no electricity or running water, and at the age of 12, gave his life to Christ during a revival at Buffalo Baptist Church.
Jim grew up playing baseball with his brother Dwight and other boys from nearby farms. He loved reading, and listening to radio shows like The Lone Ranger, The Shadow, OU football, and the MLB Game of the Day, and somewhere along the way he became a die-hard Red Sox fan. He attended Sweetwater High School and upon graduation moved to Burns Flat to live with his parents who had recently purchased a farm in the area.
During that summer, he met Jimmie Pricket, a college student from Southwestern Oklahoma State, who invited him to be his roommate the coming fall. Pricket was a leader in the Baptist Student Union, and insisted Jim get involved as well. He quickly was drawn in and became consumed with the ministry and friendships he found at the BSU. This season of social, and spiritual growth set the trajectory for what would become his lifeβs work.
Following graduation, Jim taught Jr. High science in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but soon sensed God might be leading his life in a different direction. After an Army Reserve Chapel service, and weeks of wrestling over the decision, he determined that God indeed was calling him into full-time ministry.
Jim followed that call to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth, where he pursued a Master of Divinity degree, and more importantly, where he met a young schoolteacher from Shreveport, Louisiana, named Mary Ruth Prater. The couple married on Dec. 19, 1964, and in August of 1965, moved to Weatherford, where Jim would serve as BSU director at SWOSU for nearly four decades.
Shortly after the loss of their first child, Cheryl Manon, who died at birth, God blessed the couple with an adopted daughter, Michelle, followed quickly by second daughter Melanie, and a son Randy.
For the next 37 years, Jim poured his life into the thousands of BSU students from across the country and around the world. He mentored and discipled students, led them on mission trips to the inner city of Houston, to orphanages in Mexico, to Belize, the Philippines, and other destinations near and far. He challenged students to follow Jesus with all their hearts, and to consider what God might want them to do with their lives, not just what they wanted.
After his βretirementβ, Jim continued to minster to truck drivers, to inmates at the county jail, families at the Agape clinic, as well as members of his own church and community. He spent the past decade writing a regular column, Higher Ground, for local newspapers, and had recently fulfilled his dream of compiling some of his favorites into a book.
Jim was a loving husband, father, and grandfather; and a loyal friend who tirelessly and humbly served the Lord with his whole heart, for his entire life. His challenge to us today would be the same as that of Paul: βFollow me, as I follow Christ.β
Jim was preceded in death by daughter Cheryl Manon, parents A.L. and Ora Morrison, brother Dwight; and wife of 60 years Mary.
He is survived by sisters Lila Brooks, Louada Watts, and Phyllis Marie and her husband Mike; sister-in-law Barbara Morrison; daughters Michelle Stinson and her husband Scott, Melanie Schultz and her husband Phil; son Randy Morrison and his wife Kim; grandchildren Jay Stinson and wife Jordan; Riley Pettijohn and husband Bradley; Hannah Conrad and husband Bailey; Caleb and Faith Schultz; Luke, Grace, Grant and Micah Morrison; and great grand-children Sadie, Hallie and Jacob Stinson.
In lieu of flowers please make Memorial Gifts to the SWOSU BCM: https://secure.ncfgiving.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0UVx000005OqCHMA0
Funeral services for Jim will be held Saturday, October 18, 2025, 10:00 A.M. at First Baptist Church with Ryan Ross officiating. Burial will follow in Greenwood Cemetery under the direction of Lockstone Funeral Home.
