Obituary - Robert 'Bob' Morrison

Robert "Bob" Morrison, age 99, died of natural causes at his residence in Kalispell, Montana, November 25, 2021.

He was the middle of three sons born in Havre, MT, to Edwin C. and Gena (Brengord) Morrison. His father was a Great Northern Railway conductor and his mother made ladies hats for the FA Buttrey Company.

Bob graduated from Havre High School in 1940 and immediately followed his older brother into the military. Edward was a Navy Pilot and Bob flew for the Army Air Corps during WWII. Ed passed when his plane went down in the Pacific. Bob earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal for his service.

Bob made it home to Montana at the end of the war and enrolled at the University of Montana on the GI Bill. He graduated with a Juris Doctorate and returned to Havre, where he met and married Patsy (Pat) Crain of Glasgow.

Bob joined the FBI as a Special Agent and he and Pat moved to Washington, D.C. He was stationed in Orange, New Jersey, when his father passed suddenly. The family returned to Havre to help his mother.

He opened a law practice with partners Chan Ettien and Van Barron that grew to include numerous associates and partners. Bob served as city attorney, was elected county attorney (14 years), was a past president and director of Montana Legal Services, past president of the 12th Judicial Bar, served on the Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Advisory Commission on Rules of Civil and Appellate Procedure. He was a member of the Montana Bar, Montana Trail Lawyers and American Bar Associations and graduate of the National College of Criminal Defense Lawyers, licensed to practice in all Montana and Federal Courts.

Bob was active in numerous community organizations, helped start the Bear Paw Ski Bowl and improve the Elks - later Beaver Creek - golf course. He was an elder in the First Presbyterian Church, served on the Northern Montana Hospital Board, the Northern Montana College Foundation Board, the University of Montana Alumni Board and was a founding member and chairman of the board of First Security Bank-Havre, now Independence Bank.

Bob was an avid sportsman, hunting, fishing and running in his younger years, and following closely high school and college teams throughout his lifetime. He was a proud member of the 1940 State Champion Blue Pony basketball team and played football and baseball in high school, the military, and during and after college.

He loved to ski and was still skiing Big Mountain slopes at age 85. When he and Pat retired to Whitefish, they were most likely on the golf course spring, summer and fall. Later, they moved to Kalispell and built a home at Village Greens.

As Pat's health declined, they moved to a senior community in Missoula. Bob enjoyed his many friends in Missoula, but when COVID hit, he moved first to his daughter Robyn's home in Helena, then to an independent living community in Havre, and, in October 2020, to Kalispell, where he was near daughter Lynn.

Bob was preceded in death by his wife, Pat; daughter Karen Morrison, brothers Edward and Jack Morrison, and parents Edwin and Gena Morrison.

He is survived by daughters Lynn (Miles) Morrison-Hamilton of Lakeside and Robyn (Gerald Hill) Morrison of Helena, four grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, four nieces/nephews and eight great-nieces/nephews.

Private family services will be held at a later date. The family suggests memorials to the Northern Alumni Foundation in Havre, the University of Montana Foundation in Missoula or an organization of the donors choice.

Arrangements are under the care of Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home.