Arlynn A. Morton

Arlynn was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, December 10th, 1941, to George and Edna Semanko. She was born into turbulent times, coming into the world three days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the beginning of a war that would take her father away to Europe, leaving Edna to care for Arlynn and her brother, George Jr.

After graduating from Loretto Catholic High School in 1959, she married, Matthew J. Surrel,l in 1961 and raised three boys. The family moved from Detroit to Marquette, to Washington, DC, to Marquette to Detroit and finally back to the U.P. for good in 1977.

She was a caring mother and fostered an independence in her sons that she knew would serve them well throughout life. Her approach was tested as her wild boys lived out their summers in the hundreds of acres of forest behind their home in 1970s Marquette. After getting the boys through grammar school, Arlynn enrolled in Northern Michigan University and received her Bachelor of Social Work degree, graduating in 1979 with honors.

She served the Marquette area for 26 years as a case service manager at Pathways Community Mental Health Center, retiring in 2005. For more than two decades she worked with Pathways’s most challenging clients, men and women of the community stricken with severe mental illness. She was a mentor to younger colleagues and appreciated for her dry wit and sunny disposition.

In 2005, after an 18-year courtship she married the love of her life, Douglas Morton. Over the years, they could be found at their usual table at the Casa Calabria, the family cabin on Shot Point or volunteering at Marquette General Hospital or the Janzen House.

While Arlynn loved Lake Superior and was often lulled to sleep by its roars during November, her sons maintain they’ve never seen her step foot in the Big Lake. Arlynn would sometimes gently complain about the long Marquette winters, but her greater nemesis was heat and humidity reinforcing the notion that she was in the right place.

Arlynn was known as a wonderful conversationalist and would rarely venture out without engaging in a quick “stop and chat” with friends or a wandering mental-health client. Her strong Catholicism masked a sometimes, ribald sense of humor, gleaned from Larry David and Don Imus.

Arlynn was a caring daughter to her beloved mother and would drive often to see “Edna Jean” in the Soo. Her sons loved her dearly, spoke to her regularly and used any excuse to come home. Arlynn was born into a tumultuous world, but she forged a family life marked by love and stability.

Arlynn is survived by her husband, Douglas Morton; sons, Matthew (Jane) of Marquette, Jeffrey (Mitra) of Chevy Chase, Maryland and Christopher (Stephenie) of Johns Creek, Georgia; stepchildren, Nate Morton of Marquette and Emily of Las Vegas, Nevada; brother, George Semanko; grandchildren, Mark, Meredith, Molly, Ryan and Emily; great- grandchildren, Matthew and William.

She was preceded in death by her father, George; mother, Edna and grandson, Aaron L. Surrell.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, August 30th, at St. Michael Catholic Church with Rev. Gregory Heikkala officiating and Rev. Dustin Larson concelebrating. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the Mass. A light fellowship social will follow the Mass in the reception hall. Burial will take place at Holy Cross Cemetery.

Arlynn’s Mass of Christian Burial will be livestreamed at https: //my.gather.app/rememb er/arlynn-a-morton.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made in Arlynn’s memory to St. Michael Memorial Fund, 401 W. Kaye Ave., Marquette, MI 49855 or the Trillium Hospice House, 1144 Northland Dr., Marquette, MI 49855

Canale-Tonella Funeral Home and Cremation Services is assisting Arlynn’s family, where memories and condolences may be shared at canalefuneral.com.