John Haddow Morrison Jr.

John Haddow Morrison Jr.

August 24, 1933 - May 14,2024

John Haddow Morrison Jr. passed peacefully at Chandler Regional Medical Center in Arizona surrounded by family on Tuesday, May 14. His 90 years on this earth were filled with helping other people and demonstrating his engineering skills, usually in a teaching manner to help young engineers. John was born the first child of John Morrison Sr. and Rosalie (Lehrkind) Morrison on August 24, 1933 in Bozeman, Montana. He attended local schools in Helena and graduated from Helena High School in 1951. From there, he followed in his father's footsteps as a civil engineer. He attended Montana State University in Bozeman and graduated in 1955 with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering and a commission in the U.S. Army Reserve. Following two years of active duty as a Platoon Leader and Company Commander in a combat engineering battalion, he returned to Helena in 1957 to start his career as a consulting engineer with Morrison Maierle Inc. (MMI).

While still in college, John married his high school sweetheart, Shirley Easbey, in 1954. John and Shirley spent almost 47 years together before her death in 2000. They raised two sons (Bob born in Helena in 1955 and Rick born at Fort Lewis in Washington in 1957). Bob continued the tradition of civil engineering in the Morrison family, while Rick gravitated to a financial career as a CPA. Both Bob (Kathy) and Rick (Cindy) married and had their own families, so John and Shirley spent several years together following five grandchildren living in Montana, Idaho, and Texas. Their legacy still continues today with 13 great grandchildren.

John's career at MMI began as a structural engineer designing interstate highway bridges. In 1963, he became the firm's Chief Airport Engineer. In 1973, MMI began working internationally and John served as the Company's International Project Principal until 1996. John always commented how he was fortunate to work in such "exotic" locations such as Vietnam; and Zaire, Lesotho, Tanzania, Mauritania in Africa, Syria, and the Philippines. After 1996, he primarily worked on airport projects in the western United States of MT, OR, WA, UT, AZ, and WY. John also served as MMI's President from 1973 to 1985 and as Board Chairman from 1986 to 1998.

After Shirley's death, John relocated to Phoenix in 2001 to serve as MMI's Arizona President and interim office manager. He remarried in April 2001 to Minh Thi Le and helped several of her Vietnamese relatives relocate and receive educations in the U.S.

Civic and professional service activities were also very important to John. He served on the Helena YMCA and Helena Chamber of Commerce Boards. John also served as State President of the Montana Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Montana Consulting Engineers Council, and the Helena Chapter of the Montana Society of Engineers. He was also active in Masonic organizations as a Past Worthy Patron of Miriam Chapter No. 1 Order of Eastern Star, a 32 degree Mason, and member of Helena Lodge No. 3 Scottish Rite and Algeria Shrine.

John's other passion was Montana State University and everything Bobcat. Like almost all other Morrison's, he definitely bled "Blue and Gold". While still living in Montana, he never missed a Bobcat football game and remained an active Bobcat Booster his entire lifetime. He also served as Chairman of the of the MSU Alumni Foundation Board and spent several years on the MSU College of Engineering Advisory Board. MSU awarded John their highest honor with an Honorary Doctorate Degree in 1998.

John will be greatly missed by his family, friends, and colleagues. He was preceded in death by his parents, wife Shirley, and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins. He is survived by his spouse of 23 years, Minh of Gilbert AZ, sister Helen Diehl Hoffman of Montana City, sons Bob (Kathy Doubek) of Bozeman and Rick (Cindy Chamberlain) of Billings. John is also survived by his grandchildren Paul Morrison (Lindsey) with great grandsons Jack and Henry in Boise, ID; David Morrison (Calbria) with great granddaughters Hadley, Natalee, and Elle in Bozeman; Sara Janson (Cory) with great grandson Tanner and great granddaughters Emma and Hanna in Belgrade; Jenny Overton (Rob) with great granddaughters Olivia and Madison in Kenmore, WA; and Katy Karels (Matt) with great granddaughters Rikki, Elsie, and Haddi in Lolo.

John has been cremated. Graveside services will be scheduled later this summer in Helena where John's ashes will be buried next to Shirley in accordance with his wishes. In John's memory, please consider memorials to the John and Rosalie Morrison Scholarship endowment (MSU Alumni Foundation, P.O. Box 172750, Bozeman MT 59717-2750) or a charity of your choice.