J. E. 'Aim" Morhardt died at age 81 in Bishop

J. Emil "Aim" Morhardt died in Bishop Friday after an extraordinary career as a composer, teacher, 
prospector, poet and artist.

Morhardt was born March 17, 1906, in Pasadena; he spent the past 41 years in Bishop.  Some adults 
will remember him as a teacher of art, music and skiing at Bishop schools where he spent 27 years 
in classrooms.

In January 50 paintings by Morhardt were shown at Stanford University.  He produced more than 
2,000 paintings, and, more to his liking, he said this past January, countless thousands of poems 
and hundreds of songs, many of which have been published.

He organized and directed symphonies, orchestras, string quartettes - and composed for these 
groups - as well as bands and choruses.  Morhardt occasionally put musical scores and lyrics in 
his paintings, which were usually watercolors.

"He was a man who can't be replaced, a man of all seasons and all talents," Jane Fisher, who 
described Morhardt as a dear friend.

Morhardt gave up fame in several areas to live in Bishop and enjoy the area's lifestyle, she 
added.

"He liked sharing his artistic talent and developing new talent in others," Fisher said.  "This 
is a tremendous loss to the world of fine art s."

Bishop's lifestyle attracted Morhardt as a prospector.  By the late 1960s, he had been a miner 
for about 40 years and had some profitable tungsten mines and other claims.  At that time, 
nearly 20 years ago, he and his partner would make prospecting trips Morhardt called "blue-sky 
mining."  This meant taking his dogs, some steaks and a half-gallon of wine to the pinon pine 
country and poking around.

"We don't seem to find much ore this way," Morhardt said then.  "But at this stage of the game 
it doesn't bother me very much."

"The open country calls one endlessly, and I expect to be out in it as long as I can walk," he 
added.

His interest in Inyo County led to his election in the late 1960s as president of the Death 
Valley '49ers.

Morhardt was a member of the American Institute of Fine Arts, a Fellow of the International 
Institute of Arts and Letters, and has paintings and books in collections across the United 
States.

A private burial service was arranged.

The Inyo Register, Bishop, Inyo County, California
Sunday, April 19, 1987 - Front Page
Trancribed by Pat Houser for Inyo County GenWeb, Wednesday, April 06, 2005










unty GenWeb, Wednesday, April 06, 2005