“Anything that popped we would get sent to,” said Morris, a former television cameraman for NBC.

He and his crew of three other men covered world events like the first Gulf War, the Bosnian War and major airline crashes.

“We were called the untouchables,” Morris said. “We were all single guys at the time.”

Morris, who later married, was the subject of a meet-and-greet at the Fort Museum Opera House on Tuesday night. He is the Fort Museum’s new executive director.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
-Messenger photos by Britt Kudla Tim Morris, the new director of the Fort Museum, cuts a ribbon to welcome him to the community on Tuesday at the Opera House. From left are Teresa Naughton, of Lifeworks Community Services; Randy Kuhlman, CEO of the Community Foundation and United Way of Greater Fort Dodge, and Gerry Dunn, a Fort Museum board member.

A native of Detroit, Morris began working in museums following his TV career. It has allowed him to focus his lenses on history in a different way.

“History has always been important to me,” said Morris, whose father was a World War II veteran.

Both of his parents worked in factories. His mother worked at Ford, while his father worked at Scott Paper Company.

As a child, Morris would go hunting for antiques with his mother.

“They didn’t have day care back then,” he said. “You just got drug along wherever your parents went.”

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Jill Nelson, Growth Alliance community development director, meets the new Fort Museum director Tim Morris on Tuesday evening during a special meet-and-greet event.

That resulted in him becoming pretty knowledgeable about antiques. He had a particular interest in World War II artifacts.

As a 12-year-old, Morris spent nearly all of his money to purchase an original German SS major’s uniform. That was in 1973.

“My mom had circled an ad in the Detroit News (newspaper) in red pen,” Morris said. “It was an SS major’s uniform.”

Morris lived on the west side of Detroit and had to take a bus to the book store downtown where the uniform was for sale.

“65 bucks, kid,” Morris recalled the store owner telling him.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Tim Morris, the new Fort Museum director, shakes hands with Gerry Dunn, of the Fort Museum board of directors, during a meet-and-greet on Tuesday.

After spending the money on the uniform, Morris realized he didn’t have enough bus money to get home.

Eventually, the owner of the shop gave him just enough money to make it back.

Morris still owns the uniform to this day. About eight years ago, he said he received an offer of $62,000 for the artifact.

“I thought it was going to put me through college,” Morris said. “And then I thought it would someday put my children through college, but I still have it.”

For the past 20-plus years, Morris has been working in museums. His first experience in that realm was at the Michigan Space and Science Center in Jackson, Michigan. Later, he was the education director at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Randy Kuhlman, CEO of the Community Foundation and United Way of Greater Fort Dodge, speaks with Tim Morris, the new Fort Museum director, during a meet-and-greet Tuesday evening at the Opera House.

Throughout his life, Morris has made it a point to visit with as many World War II vets as possible. Through his work in museums, he’s conducted a foot locker program for kids.

“I open it up and show all the items a soldier would have had,” he said.

Morris, who is also a reenactor for World War II and World War I, hopes to do something similar at the Fort.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he recalls veterans telling him they believed his role as a museum director was important.

“They would tell me, ‘When we are gone, you are going to be our voice,'” he said.

Morris attended Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Michigan, before earning his bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He holds a doctorate in military history.

The office of Gen. Lewis Armistead at the Fort was of particular interest to Morris.

“That’s a real piece of history,” Morris said.

He’s been pleasantly surprised at how welcoming Fort Dodgers have been to him.

“I’ve never been welcomed by so many people and so quickly,” he said. “This felt like home on the second day. I keep telling my family how grand it is here.”