BATH — Burman Lee “Bill” Morris, 87, of Bath and formerly a Longtime Plattsmouth resident, passed away at a Brunswick, Maine, hospital on December 3, 2011, surrounded by his loving family. As usual, he took that next step on his own schedule, staying longer than expected and leaving sooner than desired. Bill was born on July 21, 1924, in Thurman, Iowa, the son of Arthur and Marie Weight, and grew up on his grandfather’s farm there before enlisting in the U. S. Navy in 1943 during World War II. He served in the Pacific aboard the light cruiser USS Richmond, and he often spoke of spending his 21st birthday shooting down Japanese kamikaze planes while serving at a gun station.

Following his honorable discharge in February of 1946, he moved to Plattsmouth and worked in the machine shops of the Union Pacific for 38 years, retiring in 1984. He married the love of his life, Lillie Josephine Svik, of Clarkson and Omaha, on November 11, 1952. Bill was one of the founding members of the Plattsmouth Veterans of Foreign Wars post.

Besides his wife, of Bath, Maine, he is survived by his daughter, Patricia Lee Morris Clark, her husband, Jeffrey, of Bath, and their children, Jocelyn, of New York City, and Erin and her husband, Stephan Zaremba, of Andover, Mass.; and his son, Carl, and his wife, Sally, of Clifton Park, New York, and their children, Anthony and his fiancée, Rebecca Skerker, of Colonie, N.Y., and Christina and her husband, Ed Pickett, of Balston Spa, N.Y., and their children, Corey, Olivia and Hanna.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Tuesday, December 6, at 10:30am at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Bath, Maine. A private viewing service will be held for family at the Desmond Funeral Home in Bath before the service. If you would like to make a donation in Burman’s name the family requests it to be made to St. John’s Catholic School, 500 S 18th Street, Plattsmouth, Nebraska, 68048. To share your thoughts and condolences with Burman’s family please visit www.desmondfuneralhomes.com.