SOUTH SHORE — Wayne E. Morton, 86, of South Shore, passed away Friday, Jan. 25, 2013.

He was born Oct. 4, 1926, in Fullerton, a son of the late Carl Morton and Helen Ferree King Morton; and a grandson of the late J.R. Morton and Fannie Gray Morton.

Mr. Morton was the owner of Morton Funeral Home in South Shore and was the founder of the W.E. Morton addition to Siloam Cemetery in Siloam, and was also the founder of Morton Monument Company.

He became a member of Fullerton First Methodist Church on Easter Sunday morning 1941. He served as a member of the building committee and helped lay the cornerstone of the First United Methodist Church of South Shore. Friendships made through his church have been friendships for life.

After graduating from McKell High School in the class of 1944, he volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army, where he became a member of the Advanced Student Training Program (ASTP), through this program he attended Purdue University and Amherst College and was awarded an alternate appointment to West Point by  Governor A.B. “Happy” Chandler. In 1946, he returned home to join his father in the family mortuary business that was founded by his grandfather in 1910. This business still exists today after 103 years in the South Shore community. He was a member of the Harrison-Fullerton Masonic Lodge 937 of South Shore, Scottish Rite Valley of Covington, El Hasa Shrine of Ashland, and the Royal Order of Jesters Big Sandy Court 172. He was a licensed funeral director and embalmer in Kentucky and Ohio and was a graduate of the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. He was a Kentucky colonel and Kentucky admiral. He was an avid University of Kentucky sports fan and enjoyed April and October afternoons at Keeneland in Lexington.

He is survived by his loving wife of 65 years, Judy Johnson Morton whom he wed on Thanksgiving Day Nov. 27, 1947; three sons, Dr. John W. Morton and his wife, Cindy, of Ashland, Lee J. Morton and his wife, Leslie, of Friendship, Ohio, and C. Todd Morton and his fiance’, Renee Zabrieszack, of South Shore; grandchildren, Sara Beth (Aaron) Spencer, Adam Morton, Neal (Chrissy) Morton, Lori Morton and Seth Morton; great-grandchildren, Annie, Matthew, Sean Morton and Jack Spencer; one brother, Robert D. Morton of Louisville; a sister-in-law, Margaret Johnson McAllister of South Shore; and cousins, Norma Lee Morton Peake of Portsmouth, Ohio, and Dudley Morton of South Shore.

He was preceded in death by his sister, Dorothy Morton; and brother, Richard Morton; fathers and mothers-in-law, Robert Johnson Sr. and Doris Davis Johnson; brothers-in-law, Robert Johnson Jr., and  William “Perk” McCallister; and sister-in-law, Anita Morton.

Pallbearers will be Neal, Adam, Seth and Chuck Morton, Jerry Bentley, Richard Fugate, Dick Edgington, Carl Worthington, Ron LeMaster and Bobby Carpenter.

The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday Jan. 29, 2013, at Morton Funeral Home in South Shore with Dr. Philip LeMaster and Bill Hayden officiating. Burial will follow in Siloam Cemetery with military graveside rites by James Flannery American Legion Post 276 of South Shore.

Friends may call  from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday and after 11 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.

The family of Mr. Morton would like to express their heartfelt thanks to the staff of Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital and Community Hospice Care Center for the outstanding care that he received.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to First United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 486 South Shore, KY 41175 or the Shriners Hospital For Children, 1900 Richmond Road Lexington, KY. 40502.