A memorial service for Ross Morres, 76, a northern Virginia resident for the past 27 years, will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the Way of Faith Assembly of God Church with Assistant Pastor Bill Parkinson officiating.
Mr. Morres died March 12, 2002, at the Hospice of Northern Virginia in Arlington of cancer. He was born and raised in Carson City, the son of Native American Indian parents, Annie Wright and Ross Morres.
Mr. Morres worked for 10 years in the Washington, D.C., area with the Department of the Army and as a volunteer legislative liaison for Native Americans. He worked to make equal rights and equal opportunity a reality for all Americans.
In 1968, while living in Carson City, Nevada Gov. Paul Laxalt appointed him to serve as the executive director of Indian Affairs for Nevada. The governor's successor Michael O'Callaghan reappointed him to this position where he served during two terms of that administration. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he worked with state and national organizations to better the lives of Indian people through passage of key legislative acts and settlements of disputed Indian treaties.
Because of his expertise in equal rights affairs, he was recommended for the position with the Department of the Army in the Washington, D.C. Following his retirement in 1982, he served as liaison for the Western Shoshone National Council.
He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II aboard the attack transport ship USS Deuel, with wartime service that included operating landing craft bringing U.S. Marine and assault forces directly on to the beaches of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Following World War II, he continued his military service in the Nevada Air National Guard where he received his commission as a captain in 1966. He later served with the Washington, D.C., Air National Guard retiring with 38 years of combined military service.
Mr. Morres served for more than 20 years as a volunteer member of the Warren Engine Co. No. 1, from which he retired in 1973. He was a member of many community service organizations, including Little League and Babe Ruth baseball, high school boosters clubs and swim clubs. He was a member of the Way of Faith Assembly of God Church in Fairfax, Va.
Among his survivors are his wife of 51 years Verna Roberts Morres; children Clark Morres, M.D., Denise Peitzman, Gail Malcolm and Ross Morres III; sisters Gertrude Brown and Verna Morres; 10 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins.
Interment will be in the veteran's section of Lone Mountain Cemetery at 11 a.m. March 19 with a graveside service officiated by the Rev. Joe Brasswell (Ret.).
Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Northern Virginia; the American Cancer Society or The Prevention of Blindness Society, 1775 Church St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036.
