Jerry Lee Morton

Jerry Lee Morton East Lansing Age 67, died at home January 24, 2011; born May 7, 1943 in South Bend, IN to Donovan and Regina (Hosinski) Morton and grew up in Benton Harbor, MI. Mr. Morton was a photo-journalist and his wit, knowledge, and generous ear will be much missed. He was a longtime resident of East Lansing, MI. He photographed unsung places: Romania, Mexico and southwestern Michigan. His prize-winning images of people absorbed in work and conversation enjoyed a one-man show at the Swords into Plowshares Gallery in Detroit in 2007, and were also exhibited in Birmingham, Okemos, Dearborn and the Mexican Consulate in Detroit. He did not look for the art in people's figures, but distilled art from the human experience. As a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Timisoara, he helped a new generation of free Romanians produce the first student newspaper at their school. In public relations work for the Mexican Red Cross, he devised ways to reach every schoolchild in Mexico with the message of the Cruz Roja. He was a President of the Barry County Historical Society, and proofread the MSU Football Players Association's history of the football program, The Tradition Continues, for which he was known to have all the scores memorized. This past Fall found him doing case work for the St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Mary Cathedral. Mr. Morton graduated from MSU's journalism department; earned a Masters Degree at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism; and completed his doctoral studies in journalism at MSU. He served in VISTA in Baltimore, helped write the Walker Report on the 1968 Democratic Convention protests and worked on the 1972 McGovern campaign. After short stints at several papers, Morton worked at the Battle Creek Enquirer, where his gift for interviewing led to his annual "Walk Through Spring," talking to people he met on the route, or who came out to meet him. From these Walks, he compiled Yesterday in Hodunk, Footprints and Friends and Back to Algansee. In later books, Romania, The Sound of Words and Wandering in Mexico, he continued to photograph strangers until they became friends. Surviving are his first cousins, Elaine and Val Delinski and Jean Kolski of Niles; second cousins, David and Sonya Delinski and Janet and Don Miller of Niles; cousin, Janice Allison of California and her sons, Harvey and John, of California and Tom of Redford, MI; cousins, Ellen Martin of Detroit and Anne Moiseev, of New Jersey. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, February 2, 10:00 a.m. at St. Mary Cathedral, 219 Seymour, Lansing, MI with Rev. Jeffrey Njus officiating. The family will receive friends Tuesday from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. with a Wake at 7:00 p.m.at Gorsline Runciman Funeral Homes, 900 E. Michigan Avenue, Lansing, MI. On line condolences may be sent at: www.gorslineruncimanlansing.com