Jay Morris
I moved from Denver, Colorado to Houma, Louisiana the summer before my senior year in high school. Talk about a fish out of water. My brother played high school football with James, and somehow, I was privileged to become friends with him as well. Those were special times. James made us feel welcome and at home. I appreciated his character and integrity, and of course his humor. Seemed like he was always trying something new. I still remember being out driving around with friends one night near the end of that senior year, and James just happened to mention that he had enlisted in the Marines that morning.
Although we went our separate ways, and were not geographically close, our friendship endured. James stood in my wedding, and I in his. I can still picture James and his new bride Frankie, driving off from their wedding, headed for his Marine base halfway across the country in California.
After serving in the Marines, James started his career in the oilfield, and he excelled. Always the innovator, James was already programming calculators for oilfield use when computers were just getting started.
During the early Louisiana years James and Frankie took my wife and myself out for fine dining a number of times, exceptionally special events. On other occasions, we would get together at the beach on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Always the consummate host, James was both a gentleman and a good friend.
Although we both ended up in Texas, we were hundreds of miles apart, but still friends. When I first moved to Texas and was unable to hunt where I had before, James set me up with a deer hunt in Texas. A few years later, Sylviane and I had the opportunity to go visit with James and Frankie at their home in Laporte. Further down the road, James and Frankie came to watch when our daughter played an ice hockey game near their home, and invited us over after.
Really good friends are few and far between, and James continues to hold a special place in my heart. His continuing selfless friendship over so many years has been a true blessing.
Jay