A three-decade veteran of Hempstead County political service has died.
Hempstead County District 10 Justice of the Peace Randy Morris, 66, of Bingen and Nashville, passed away Friday in a Texarkana hospital.
“Randy, as we all know, was Randy,” Hempstead County Judge Wallace Martin said Monday. “He was very knowledgeable of county government. He always tried to do the right thing, and he would stand up and do the right thing.”
Morris served District 10 for 30 years, having been challenged several times, but never defeated for re-election.
“He didn't even come close to being defeated,” Martin said. “He helped people in his district a lot and they remembered it.”
Martin said Morris was known for being outspoken, but was always able to find common ground.
“I got along with him fine and we had a good working relationship; he was a leader on the quorum court,” Martin said.
The dean of the county body, Hempstead County District 6 JP Lynn Montgomery said Monday that Morris was true presence in the county body's decision making.
“He was real knowledgeable about county government; and, whenever he made his mind up on something, he stayed with it,” Montgomery said. “He was pretty forward thinking.”
Reared in the Bingen area of northern most Hempstead County, Morris never left his roots, Montgomery said.
“He always knew what was going on. I knew him from back in school at SAU (Southern Arkansas University),” he said. “He always tried to make an honest living.”
Born Feb. 4, 1944, in Nashville, he was the son of Maggie Louis Maroon and the late John Warren Morris. He was a long-time member and board member of the Bingen Fire Department, a past member of the Howard County Cattlemans Board, and was retired as owner of Morris Farm and Ranch Supply, Nashville Livestock and Clark County Livestock.
An avid gardener and lifelong farmer, Morris attended Bingen Methodist Church and was a member of Antioch Baptist Church.
He was preceded in death by his father and step-father.
Surviving are his wife of 38 years, Nancy Jo Owens Morris, of Nashville; his mother, Maggie Louis Maroon, of Nashville; two sons, Todd Morris (Casey) and Rodney Morris (Annah), of Nashville; and five grandchildren.
Funeral services were conducted Monday at Latimer Funeral Home in Nashville, and burial was in Ozan Cemetery.
