Jim Morrell:
CLASS OF 1965
Lakes High SchoolClass of 1965
Tacoma, WA
Jim's Story
I lived on McNeil Island when I was at Lakes and commuted to and from Steilacoom daily where I caught the bus to school. I was occasionally allowed to ride in the pilot house of the boat which led me to a career which I'll get to later. I started college then enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1967 and eventually graduated from Western Washington State College. After graduating I went to OCS and was commissioned an Ensign. I had to make a choice of which branch to go into and, since I got interested in boats when I lived on McNeil, I decided to volunteer for duty on ships. That turned out to be a great fit for me and I got pretty good at it. After serving on 7 ships and getting an MBA from UPS while I was on shore duty in Breme...Expand for more
rton, I was selected for command of my own ship in 1989. While I was in command, I got to bring my ship to Tacoma for the Daffodil Festival which was a lot of fun. Don and Barb McPherson even rode my ship from Seattle to Tacoma along with a number of other dignitaries. In time I was promoted to Captain and became the Chief of Staff for an Admiral then I was selected to command a Destroyer Squadron consisting of 7 Guided Missile Frigates. That was a big jump from riding the boat to and from McNeil Island! I retired from the Navy in 2000 and my wife Rennie (also a retired Naval Officer) and I moved to Sisters, Oregon where we still live with Murphy our yellow lab. I love to hunt and fish and engage my passion whenever I can.
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