Obituary of Morris Royal Stafford

Morris Royal Stafford 8/21/1916 - 8/10/2015 Morris would have been 99 years old in 11 days from his departure on earth to Heaven. Morris was in the company of his son Dave Stafford and Deborah Stafford Dave's wife and 2 family pets when he departed. Moris Royal Stafford was born in Bridgeton Twp., Newaygo County Michigan to Ora Adell Beebe and David Stafford Morris lead a very active life, in his early years he grew up on a farm, before going into the Army Air Corps and being assigned to China and India during WWII. He came home from the war and started his family, he married Helen Stoner. He worked in different fields from the railroad to building refrigerators. He moved on to obtain an education in aeronautical engineering and moving to California where he worked for Lockheed Aircraft Co.. Then moved on to work for the Air Force on aircraft at March Air Force Base as a civilian but had to be in the reserves to have the job. This was during Vietnam Era. After the Air Force he went to work for Hughes Aircraft as a government inspector of OH-6A Cayuse helicopters used in Vietnam. After retirement, in 1986 Morris and Helen moved to Kingman Arizona, following their son Dave who had moved to Kingman in 1978. In March of 1996 Helen passed away with Alzheimer's after 5 years of care by Morris,. Morris had been living alone after that, he was very independent and drove himself around getting groceries and visiting with friends and family. then in 2013 it was discovered that Morris had been in bed for 3 days without food or water, at this point Dave stepped in and moved Morris in with him and Deborah. Shortly after that Morris fell and broke a leg next to the hip. He had to go into the hospital and eventually had surgery to correct the broken bone. During recovery he had another issue come up which was taken care of and he continued his recovery therapy. After being returned to Dave's home where he liked to play with the family pets, he one day was playing with a dog that was chasing a ball when it went into a place the dog wouldn't go, Morris left his walker behind and went to retrieve the ball when he fell and fractured his arm with a hairline fracture. This again set him back taking away his use of the arm so getting around in a wheel chair was difficult and the walker was out of the picture. Over the next couple of years Morris began losing more strength and became bedbound. Then on August 7th he took a turn for the worse where he began going downhill very fast sleeping until on August 10th at 2 am he quit breathing and at 2:05am his heart stopped. Morris leaves behind his son Dave Stafford and two stepsons Carl Shumate of Phoenix Arizona and Bob Shumate of Ramona California, and many grand and great grandchildren. By Morris's request he is being cremated and his ashes will be mixed with Helen's ashes and scattered about different areas where the family spent time enjoying life. Thoughts and condolences may be submitted to the family at www.lietz-frazefuneralhome.com Arrangements were placed under the care of Lietz-Fraze Funeral Home and Crematory.