Michael Daulton Morgan

Michael Daulton Morgan was born March 13, 1973, in Roswell, New Mexico, to Daulton Morgan and Carrie Earnest Morgan. He died on May 25, 2024, while feeding the cows that wore his brand, his lifelong dream. He is survived by his wife, Niki Yost Morgan; daughter, Dallas Morgan; father, Daulton Morgan; sister, Carol Morgan; sister, Kaylynn (Keelan) Banks; nephew Mike Knopic, niece Maddy Knopic, and great-niece Carrie; father- and mother-in-law, Dave and Merrilee Yost; sister-in-law Angie (Dean) Wintermote; nephew Jake (Kendra) Wintermote, niece Darci Wintermote, and many aunts, uncles, cousins, and dear family friends. Mike was preceded in death by his mother, Carrie Earnest Morgan; grandparents, Everette and Laverne Earnest and Dallas and Velma King Morgan. Mike grew up on ranches in New Mexico and Nevada doing what all ranch kids do and enjoying childhood. Tragedy struck his family when their beloved mother died when Mike was nine. He is back with his mother, which guaranteed, was quite a reunion. Later, the family moved back to New Mexico where Mike attended Jr. and Sr. high school. Mike moved to the Meyring Ranch in Walden where he finished high school at North Park High. Here, he met Niki, and they dated for the first time. After graduating from high school, Mike started working locally, logging and operating large equipment. He moved to Canon City, Colorado and continued operating large equipment. Mike missed his ranching background and moved back to Walden on the Meyring Ranch, where he reconnected with Niki. They were married July 6, 1997. Wanting to spread their wings, Mike and Niki moved to Valentine, Nebraska, where they worked, ranched, raised horses and enjoyed life. Mike and Niki moved to Lexington, Nebraska, where Mike pursued a career in brand inspection. Niki worked as a Schwans Truck delivery driver to help Mike make it through the training phase. Plans were quickly changed again as God blessed Mike and Niki with the biggest miracle of their life, their daughter, Dallas, born November 3, 2006. Wanting to give Dallas the small town environment they had been raised in, Mike and Niki decided to move back to Colorado. The opportunity to manage the EK Carey Ranch in Cherokee Park got them doing exactly what they wanted to do: raising Dallas on a ranch, and brought them closer to where they knew they wanted to end up, back home in North Park. The opportunity arose to go completely home to the Meyring Ranch with Danny and Lucy Meyring. Mike, Niki, and Dallas spent 13 years learning how to be the closest family, doing absolutely everything together nearly all the time. This is where Mike started raising his daughter Dallas as fast and as hard as he could, teaching her to be tough, smart, and hard, yet soft, wholehearted, and caring. Oh, and if you get the chance… just rope it! Boy, does she take that one to heart! Somehow he knew he only had a short time to teach her everything he knew. They were able to start and keep a small herd of cow calf pairs on the Meyring Ranch, which only gave Mike the itch to have more cows. I don’t know if his itch would ever have been satisfied. After learning a neighboring ranch was dispersing the majority of their herd Mike was chomping at the bit to talk to them. Shortly thereafter Mike, Niki, and Dallas were the owners of close to 100 head of cows. This still wasn’t enough for Mike. In late 2023, they left the Meyring Ranch and were again presented with a huge opportunity to purchase 255 head of bred cows from Justin and Holly Sollenbarger. A life-long relationship was created. Mike continued to keep a ranching job at Silver Spur Ranches with his best friend Jerred Seely to make ends meet, all the while helping Niki and her dad Dave and mom Merrilee take care of the dream herd of cows in Rand. Pursuing “the dream” was a big leap but Mike, Niki, and Dallas jumped head first into what they called “gypsy ranching.” Niki and Dallas, with the help of family and friends will continue to live Mike’s dream until we all meet him again. A celebration of Mike's life will be held 1-5pm Friday, 5/31/2024 at the Wattenburg Center at the North Park Fair Grounds, Friday, May 31, 2024.

Tributes

Michael Daulton Morgan

March 13, 1973 - May 25, 2024