Ronald Morton ’64

Bob Taylor and I roomed with Ron Morton during our last two years. Ron was a quiet guy, but he did have a wonderful sense of humor. During our Junior year he and Bob decided that the laundry service was inadequate. After lengthy lobbying they got the administration to let them do it themselves, so I had to weave around items of drying clothes in our room. I always appreciated his friendship and support during our Carleton years.
Ron was a waiter and had long strides so could move very fast with a tray. He was a government major and graduated Magna Cum Laude, an excellent writer, and a good French speaker. He used those skills to survive the Monterey Foreign Languages Institute during his Army stint. It was a good background for his career in IT.
During the summer between our junior and senior year, I invited Ron and Bob to spend the summer with me, but later found a job in Minnesota. My parents agreed to have them without me and formed a strong friendship with them.
Ron’s Christmas letters often did not provide much information, but one year he mentioned that he and Kyoko had just come back from Scotland. My wife and mother-in-law were planning a trip there, so she wrote Ron asking for advice. He responded with a long letter which they found very helpful.
He wrote a very short essay for our 50th reunion bio book. When I asked Ron if he could add a few more sentences he responded by saying we should be grateful for what we got. His niece told me that he was very modest and did not like to talk about himself. She also told me had three siblings and was very devoted to his nieces and nephews.
After growing up in Duluth, four years at Carleton, and a career in Hartford, Connecticut, Ron and his wife Kyoko moved to Arizona so they could play golf all year round. They also loved playing bridge. She chided me for not keeping up with the latest bidding systems. He proudly told me that the only care his front yard needed was someone to come once a year and get the weeds out between the rocks. He really liked his last years in the warm sun<./p>