Cover photo for James Phillip Morris's Obituary
James Phillip Morris Profile Photo
1986 James 2022

James Phillip Morris

October 1, 1986 — July 21, 2022

Beloved Father, Son, Husband, Brother and Friend, James (Jim) Phillip Morris, passed on July 21st, 2022 after a long battle with depression at the age of 35. Jim is survived by his wife Shandra (Shandi) Wilde Morris, and his three children, Benjamin, Gracie, & Theodore (Teddy), Jim’s parents, Robert and Lorrie Morris, his siblings, Brian, Victoria, Russell, Emalie, and Scott, Jim’s many nieces and nephews, and his grandparents Mary and Gary Nelson. Jim is preceded in death by his adoring grandparents George & Lois Goggins.

Jim entered and left this world beloved by those who knew him. Born to a large and growing family in Southern California, Jim always stood among his five siblings with his gregarious personality and an unflappable stubbornness. Even as a young child, his restless determination to always be his best was complemented by his tender heart and effortless desire to be kind and understand others.

Upon moving to Ivins, Utah with his family, Jim set about creating an indelible impact on his whole community. Jim served diligently in his church callings and responsibilities, making many lifelong friends of his neighbors. He provided service with the Boy Scouts of America, often at the side of his brothers and his perennial Scout-Master father, attaining the rank of Eagle Scout and attending the 2001 National Scout Jamboree. Jim endured and enjoyed long and exhausting days of backpack hikes and multi-week Timberline Camp outings, where his strength and humor never waned.

After completing his High School Education at Snow Canyon High School in 2005, graduating with honors, he was called to serve a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He served honorably in the Tacoma, Washington Mission. He was always quick to remark on his time serving in 2006 in the town of Forks, Washington, at the height of ‘Twilight-Vampire’ fever (#teamjacob4ever). The warmth and light he shared with the people of Washington blesses us even now, as the kind stories from his companions and those he served have reached us and attest to the sincere purpose he felt in representing the Savior.

Upon returning home from his Mission, Jim followed his oldest brother to Brigham Young University, where he exceled in their engineering program, and to his Father’s eternal pride, specialized in Electrical Engineering. It was there in the first years of his study he received the greatest opportunity of his life, meeting his soon-to-be wife Shandi. With his signature combination of humor, tenacity, and undeniably-charming-dorkiness, she joined him in beautiful matrimony. They were sealed together in the Logan, Utah Temple, on June 2010. She would remain a long-suffering, supportive companion, who through her time & efforts, blessed Jim with the ability to complete his education, have a notable career, and create a beautiful family. His love for his wife and children were and are a comfort for them, as he took his care and responsibility to them above all else.

To most who were privileged to have known Jim, they are aware he dabbled in various sports, activities & social clubs. However, often to his parents', and then wife’s, chagrin, he could not escape the talent where he perhaps most excelled - behind a video-game controller. An ‘E-Sports’ talent born too soon, Jim’s path to Electrical Engineering began on numerous digital landscapes where, despite his kind and endearing nature, he unhesitatingly littered battlefields with the slain avatars of his opponents. Friends, brothers and children alike tried and failed to top his talent, and he proudly noted his multi-year rein in High School as the Super Smash Brothers school-wide champion. In a time before the internet, many will remember him most fondly from when they gathered together to trash-talk, compete, laugh and play together. Jim was always gracious in defeat and not just because he had to do it so little, but because he never lost sight of why he played. We are warmed by these times of play, and regret that family tournaments and competitions will no longer be a battle for second place. As both an expert of its function as an engineer and a master of its form as a player, he carried his love for the medium of video-games to his family, friends and children.

As we ponder, grieve, and celebrate his life, a lament for the loss of his laughter has become our joint refrain. It was infectious, unadulterated, and shared freely, even, perhaps especially, when it bordered on the annoying. It perfectly emulated his jovial personality, his desire to make others laugh, and the part of him that stands foremost in the minds & hearts of so many who knew him. Having diligently trained himself in the great comedy schools of 2000’s SNL, Will Farrell movies and the Christopher Guest mockumentary cannon, Jim finely attuned his humor to strike the most appropriately inappropriate line. Blusterous, witty, and unpretentious, he sought to create the most fun and laughter, yet worked and listened to show his compassion in his humor and to never offend with his jokes. His encyclopedic ability to inject the most funny movie quote into a given situation, or cut through the tension with his unassuming humor will always be considered legendary. Like the best years of SNL, those days are behind us now – and deeply missed.

His empty chair at our table will be for the rest of our lives an unquenchable loss. The silence in the absence of his echoing, and at times controversial, laughter, leaves a void we cannot fill. He was truly the best of us, and in these times that try the souls of God’s children, it is the best of us who suffer most. We invite all who remember Jim – all who were blessed by his seemingly inextinguishable light – to join us in remembering him and honoring him by helping to create the kinder, better world he believed in. May God hold him in his arms, and grant him the peace he was so long fighting for.

His memory will be honored with a viewing from 9:45-10:45 AM on Saturday, July 30 at the LDS Church located at 993 W 1000 S, Logan, UT followed by a funeral starting at 11 AM. A viewing will also be held on Friday evening, July 29, at Allen-Hall Mortuary, from 6 to 8 PM. Interment at Wellsville City Cemetery.

Services will be livestreamed and can be viewed via the following link (password: Jim)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87541585912?pwd=OTNoQU9JMDYyT293YkV4N243ZlNrUT09
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of James Phillip Morris, please visit our flower store.

James Morris Funeral.m4a

Service Schedule

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Friday, July 29, 2022

Starts at 6:00 pm (Mountain time)

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Wellsville Cemetery

, Wellsville, UT 84339

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