Charlotte Fay Morris

Charlotte Fay (Wood) Morris, of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, formerly of Sandpoint, Idaho and Chesterton, Indiana, passed away on May, 8, 2023 at the age of 96 at the Boundary County Community Restorium.

Fay was born on May 17, 1926 to Merritt and Hester Wood of Gary, Indiana. She spent her childhood there where she attended Horace Mann High School. Fay was an active member of the drama club, the debate team, and a member of the cheerleader squad. Subsequently she lived in Porter Indiana at the Bailly Homestead until her marriage to William Morris.

Upon graduation in 1944 Fay went to work at Youngstown Sheet and Tube in East Chicago, Indiana for the duration of the WWII war effort. She was awarded the Army Commanders Award for Civilian Service for her home front war effort work.

On June 20, 1946, Fay married William F. (Bill) Morris, of Alliance, Ohio following his discharge from the U.S. Army Air Corps. The ceremony took place at the Augsburg Lutheran Church in Porter, Indiana. The happy couple parented and raised four children and they continued to live in the Chesterton, Indiana area for the next three decades where they were active with many friends and involved in local affairs.

In that period she worked at the Pines Ski Area as an instructor, helping to set up the ski school there.

Over the years Fay and Bill travelled to Idaho many times for camping, hiking, and outdoor adventures of all sorts. Finally in 1977 they moved to the Sandpoint, Idaho area. Many reading this may remember their A-frame overlooking Lake Pend Oreille, where they camped, sailed, fished, hiked and skied. Fay and Bill became fixtures in Sandpoint where they worked for years at Foster’s Crossing.

In 1992 they moved again, but not far, to their cabin in the woods north of Bonners Ferry along Meadow Creek near the Moyie River, once more making many friends in the local community and working as ski instructors at the Schweitzer Mountain ski area. Fay was also active in local politics and was elected twice as a delegate to the Idaho Democratic Party state convention where she was introduced as “The heart and soul of the Idaho Democratic Party.”

Fay and Bill were also avid supporters of the Pearl Theater in Bonners Ferry, as well as the library and other local institutions and organizations. Both Fay and Bill were poets, and penned many verses.

Fay was preceded in death in 2018 by her husband William F. Morris; Her parents Merritt and Hester Wood; Her brothers Merritt M. (Mason) Wood and James Wood. Fay is survived by her four children, Jeanette Morris (Gene Freott), Christopher Morris (Sheryl Morris), Eve Magyar (William Critz), Andrew Morris (Annika Morris); Grandchildren Eric Morris (Karla Morris), Megan Dicken (Sean Dicken), and two great-grandchildren Aldon and Amelia Morris and many nieces and nephews.

Fay was loved by all who knew her.

We all wish to extend our gratitude and thanks to the Boundary County Community Restorium staff, the staff at Bonners Ferry Funeral Home, and all her many friends and associates who graced her life for the better part of a century. She loved you all.

In lieu of flowers please make donations to the American Diabetes Association.