JAMES P. MORTON SR.

James Paul Morton Sr., 83, of Wasilla passed away June 2, 2008 from acute heart failure in Anchorage. A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Friday, June 6 at First Baptist Church of Wasilla. Viewing will preceed the service at 2 p.m. and a potluck will follow the services in the reception hall. His final resting place will be Resthaven Memorial Gardens “Garden of Love” in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Born June 13, 1924 in Bennington, Okla., Morton received an honorable discharge from the Army in 1943 at Fort Knox, Ky.

Morton was a plumber by trade and drove to Alaska in 1959 with his family from Oklahoma City. He built homestead cabins in Bird Creek. He settled in Kenai, built one of the first cabins in what is now the Alyeska Ski Resort area, then moved to Anchorage where he ran Arctic Plumbing.

In 1974 the family moved to the Valley. Morton became know to the locals as “Speedie” for he owned a general store in Wasilla providing general merchandise and plumbing supplies to the Valley.

Morton continued working into his 80s, and was the owner/builder of Best Sheds of Alaska. He lived life fully. People throughout Alaska enjoy his workmanship in his sheds. His wisdom and hospitality will be missed by all who know him, his family wrote.

Morton was a member of the First Baptist Church in Wasilla.

Morton is survived by his wife of 54 years, Anna Mae Morton, of Wasilla; son James Morton Jr. and wife, Angela, of Wasilla; daughter Maria Knutson and husband, Wayne, of Wasilla; daughters Betty Daniels, Gloria Hicks, Nadine Bishop and Joann Autry and their spouses of Oklahoma; sisters Doris and Barbara of Oklahoma; brother Donald of Oklahoma; grandchildren Keegan Knutson, Shane Alexander, Ronald JC Hayes, Trisha Bills and Shalaya Palmer.

He was preceded in death by his mother Rosie Mae Craig; sons Donald of Oklahoma and son Wesley W. “Beanie” of Alaska; daughters Elley Mae of Alaska and Patricia “Suebee” Lace of Illinois.