Mary Jane Morton

February 24, 1933 – April 13, 2025

Mary Jane Morton, 92, Noblesville, passed away on Sunday, April 13, 2025 at Riverwalk Village surrounded by family. She was born on February 24, 1933 to Claude M. and E. Pauline (Buzan) Long at Riverview Hospital, Noblesville.

Jane was a 1951 graduate of Walnut Grove High School. After graduating she traveled and worked, landing a job and apartment in Indianapolis. Unaware that she was renting her apartment from her future mother-in-law, this is where Jane met her future husband Tom Morton. The rest, as they say, is history. Tom and Jane married in 1957, they bought a small home in rural Cicero and it is there they would start and raise their family.

Jane was a homemaker and stayed home with her kids. When she did go back to work it was at the Hamilton County Bank where Jane became well-known and spent several years as a teller. Jane and Tom built the iconic Cicero Dairy Queen in 1974 and managed the business for years, employing many local kids.

She loved to play the piano and also loved the out-of-doors. Raised on a farm she enjoyed tending her yard and flowers. Her most beloved role was as a volunteer at Riverview Hospital which she did for several decades, working well into her 80s. She was a “spitfire” and did her job with intensity and compassion walking the expanse of the hospital several times on her work days, solving every problem, finding wheelchairs, and escorting visitors. Serving others was her passion.

Jane loved walking, staying active into her 90s. Jane loved her family and especially her only grandchild Liza Jane. She has many nieces and nephews and cousins throughout Hamilton County. Her legacy will live on.

She is survived by her daughters, Lynn Morton (John Derrig) and Lori (Jim) Fiers; son, Brad Morton; granddaughter, Liza (Drew) Whitehurst and great-grandson Wesley and soon-to-arrive baby girl Whitehurst; and extended family which Jane thought the world of: Hunter (Emily), Tucker, Griffin, and Sawyer Fiers.

Special thanks from the family to Jane’s close friends Jayne Lewis, who took Jane on many outings and who Jane loved greatly, and to Bruce Kaiser, who kept Jane’s chocolate chip cookie supply chain flowing.

In addition to her parents, Jane was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas C. Morton; her brother, Charles Long; and beloved friend and sister-in-law, Peggie Long.

Jane will be laid to rest next to Tom in Cicero Cemetery at a later date. A celebration of life will be planned later in the year.

Jane joined the Cicero United Methodist Church when she was 17 years old and was a member for 75 years. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Cicero United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 617, Cicero, IN 46034; or to a charity of your choice.

Condolences: randallroberts.com