Obituaries - Aug. 6, 1997

A memorial service will be held Friday for prominent Ventura County businessman William L. Morris Sr., whose name was known to thousands of county residents from radio ads promoting his Fillmore Chevrolet dealership.

Morris died Monday at Santa Paula Hospital from complications of a stroke. He was 97.

“He was somewhat active in the business until a month ago,” said one of his three children, John Chapman Morris, who runs the family dealership in Fillmore with his two sons. “He checked in with us from time to time.”

Starting with their first Ventura County auto lot in Fillmore in 1929, the Morris family Chevrolet franchise has over the years included operations in Santa Paula, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, and Newbury Park.

Born in La Habra in Orange County in 1900, William Morris moved with his family to the city of San Fernando by the time he was 3.

He found his lifetime career at an early age, according to his granddaughter, Tina Thomson of South Pasadena. “In his vast maturity of 14 years . . . he was the new janitor, night watchman, apprentice and mechanic for a livery stable/Ford dealership,” she said of his first job. “At age 22, he sold 122 new Fords to that many individuals in just 90 days.”

Thomson added that in those days her grandfather also had to teach his customers how to drive an automobile so they could get their new cars off the lot. By 1927, he started his own Chevrolet dealership in the city of San Fernando.

By 1929, Morris was married and he and his wife, Verna, moved to Fillmore, where they lived for nearly seven decades. His wife of 63 years preceded him in death in 1985.

Morris is survived by his sons, John of Fillmore and William L. Jr. of Simi Valley; daughter Virginia Young of San Jose; 13 grandchildren; and 25 great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. at Fillmore Bible Church, at Central Avenue and 1st Street.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Skillin-Carroll Mortuary in Fillmore.

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Ventura County obituaries are published free of charge as a public service to readers. Obituaries are based on information provided by mortuaries.