Elaine Magdalena Morrall
Elaine Magdalena Morrall entered this world on January 26, 1933, in McIntosh, South Dakota, and departed on Memorial Day May 29, 2023, in Grand Junction, Colorado. She lived an active, engaged, productive, and independent life for all her 90 years.
Elaine grew up on a family farm near Walker, South Dakota with her parents, Henry and Amanda Holwegner, sister Ruth, and brothers, Bill, Jim, and Hank. Early on Elaine had a passion for travel and wanted to experience the world beyond the Great Plains. Upon graduating from McLaughlin HS, she went to a radio communication school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which led to a job with Capitol Airlines in New York City. The move from a rural homestead to Manhattan was not enough and the allure of international travel motivated her to take a job with Aramco in the developing oil industry of Saudi Arabia. It was there that she met her husband, Bill Morrall.
Elaine and Bill were married in Zurich, Switzerland in 1956 and shared life's adventures together. They honeymooned by buying a boat in Rotterdam, Netherlands and traveling on inland waterways through Europe to their home in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. They had one child together, a son Steve, and continued to explore the world with frequent trips to East Africa, Asia, and Europe. Bill retired from Aramco in 1967 and they settled in Flagstaff, Arizona.
After Bill passed in 1981, Elaine continued her adventures with birding and flyfishing as her passions. Elaine was a professional potter, landlord, and English language instructor in Mexico. She also took graduate-level ornithology classes at Northern Arizona University that fueled her conservation work with the Audubon Society and the Arizona Wildlife Federation. Elaine was instrumental in the development of the Arizona Audubon breeding bird atlas and received numerous conservation awards.
Elaine moved to Grand Junction, Colorado in 2014 to be near her family. Elaine passed at HopeWest Hospice Care Center in Grand Junction, a unique and wonderful institution, surrounded by her immediate family. She is survived by her son Steve Morrall and his wife Donna (Palisade, CO), grandchildren Ian Morrall and wife Yang Song (Hamilton, NY), Trevor Morrall (Granby, CO), Stephanie Morrall (Golden, CO), Alex Morrall (Palisade, CO), and great grandson Kai (Hamilton, NY).