John Morse, Sr.

John Franklyn Morse, 76, of Overland Park, Kansas passed away on Monday, November 15, 2021 due to COVID-19. For reasons related to this, memorial services will be private.

John was born in Los Angeles, California, to the late Albert Morse and Evalyn Elayne Davis on January 30, 1945. He attended Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas, before joining the United States Army.

He first married Helen Bernice Standefer in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1965; their marriage produced his only child, his son John Jr. His second marriage was to Pamela Sue Morris (nee Piper) in Shawnee, Kansas in 1994.

After leaving the Army, John spent many years working for Southwestern Bell, first as a switchman then as a business systems installer. Later in life he also worked for Ericsson and Black & Veatch. John was a self-educated man, teaching himself a variety of technologies in conjunction with his hobbies. He was a CB radio enthusiast as a younger man, going by the handle "Yukon Rat", before transitioning to ham radio where he was active in the American Radio Relay League, originally under the callsign WB0GVR before being granted the callsign N0EI. As part of his activities with the AARL, John frequently engaged in severe weather tracking and emergency notifications, and was a constant presence at local field day events.

John was also active in scientific cave exploration and was the founding president of the MOARKSOK chapter of the National Speleological Society, most notably leading the effort to map Rockhouse Cave near Cassville, Missouri, and assisting the City of Neosho in attempting to locate the ultimate outflow of the waters of Big Spring, which descended into a submerged sinkhole.

As home computing first began, John thrust himself into that new arena, becoming active in the local Apple Bits User Group and eventually operating Xanadu BBS and his own newsgroup server farm.

John was preceded in death by his mother, Evalyn and half-sister Elayne Thornton Regan. He is survived by his son, John Morse Jr.; his half-brother, Kevin Thornton; grandchildren: Fiona Frazier and Don Morse; great-grandchildren: Raelynn and Riley Ebeling, and step-daughters: Jenny Sayler and Tiffany Phillips.