Lou Morton & Dale J. Hollingsworth Poli-Sci Scholarship
In Memory of Dale J. Hollingsworth
November 22, 1922 – October 28, 2006
Dale J. Hollingsworth was born November 22, 1922, in Duluth, Minnesota and was the youngest of three children born to Carl and Ruth Hollingsworth. He spent his childhood in Duluth, graduating in 1940 from Morgan Park High School. Dale attended Duluth Junior College, earning a degree in Business Administration.
Dale joined the US Navy in 1942, serving in the pacific theater as a Naval Aviator. He was commissioned as ensign during the war and served in the Naval Reserve until 1957, retiring as a Lieutenant.
Dale married Mary Phyllis Dyer in Ontario, Oregon on July 8, 1946. They spent the early years of marriage in Duluth, Minnesota and eastern Oregon. He became manager of the LaGrande, Oregon Chamber of Commerce in 1953.
Dale was hired in February of 1957 as Manager of the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce. Thus began an almost 50-year love affair with the Grand Junction area.
He was Executive Vice President and Manager of the Chamber of Commerce until 1969, then again from 1972 until his retirement in 1984. The period 1969-1972 was spent as Vice President of the United States Bank in Grand Junction.
In his Chamber position, he was a proponent of business and civic development, a function he carried on for an additional 22 years after his official retirement.
Most notably, he was instrumental in helping to transform downtown Grand Junction with “Operation Foresight”, assisting Grand Junction in being designated an “All American City” in 1963. Dale was also involved as a founding member of the JUCO Baseball Committee and helped in the transition of Colorado Mesa University, then Mesa State College, from a Junior College to a four-year degree granting institution. Mr. Hollingsworth’s continued list of accomplishments in the Grand Valley is enormous.
In Memory of Lou Morton
May 21, 1928-December 4, 2008
Lou (Louis G.) Morton, Jr. was born in St. Louis, Missouri on May 21, 1928. He graduated from Kirkwood, MO High School and enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1946, spending three years in service to his country. After enrolling at the University of Missouri he graduated in 1953 with a degree in Secondary Education-History.
Lou later did graduate work at Western Illinois University, the University of Texas and earned a MA degree in 1966 from Western State College. He also earned an Educational Specialist degree from Western State in 1971.
Professor Morton spent a long and distinguished career in education. He was a principal of an elementary and middle school in Golden, IL, taught at Silt, CO in 1960, and later that year moved to Grand Junction where he served in teaching positions at Lowell Elementary School and Grand Junction Central High School (1961-66). In 1966 he became an instructor of history and political science at Mesa State College where he remained for 29 years, retiring as a Professor in 1996. At Colorado Mesa University, then Mesa State College, he served as a member of the Faculty Senate, Faculty Senate President, and Chairman of the Department of Social Sciences. He particularly enjoyed his work advising future teachers and pre-law students. He also authored histories of Colorado Mesa University and several studies of the American Constitution.
Louis G. Morton was a master teacher, respected mentor to younger faculty members and absolutely dedicated to the greater good of Colorado Mesa University.