Joe Morley

Joseph Reid Morley, born May 5th 1951 in Murray, Utah passed away March 15th, 2025 in Sandy, Utah at the age of 73. Joe faced many health challenges in the last few years of his life and was sustained and surrounded by wonderful family and friends until the end.

Born to Robert Johannesen Morley and Janice Beck Morley, Joe grew up alongside his 5 siblings in Midvale attending Midvale Elementary, Midvale Middle School, and Hillcrest High School. At a young age, Joe learned how to love work by helping out around his father’s corner drug store, ‘Midvale Rexall Drug.’

With encouragement from his mother and father, Joe developed an appreciation for music and a talent for playing the cello, earning him the Sterling Scholar in Music award at Hillcrest High, a chair in the Mormon Youth Symphony and Chorus, and later joined The Salt Lake Repertory Orchestra and the Murray Symphony. He regularly performed in trios and quartets with his sisters Jan Litster and Elizabeth Palmer on the violin, and his Aunt Geniel Rassmussen at the piano for many funerals, weddings, and church services. Joe especially enjoyed the annual tradition of performing in the Midvale and Cottonwood Heights productions of “Messiah” with several of his family members in the orchestra and choir.

Joe was a life-long and devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including serving a mission in Hamburg, Germany. At home in Utah, he served in numerous callings including Sunday School Teacher, Choir Director, and as Bishop of the Midvale 5th Ward.

After his mission, Joe was asked to return to Hillcrest High School to play in the orchestra for the productions of their annual musical. From the orchestra pit, he looked up to the stage and for the first time saw his beautiful future bride, Lora Stuker. They were married and sealed on February 14th, 1975 in the Salt Lake Temple and soon became the parents to two children, Brent and Nicole. Joe and Lora recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

To support his young family, Joe began roofing houses with just his red Ford pickup truck, and his green air compressor. Joe continued this side business for several years and would take pride in being able to point out all the homes and churches around the valley where he had “done that roof.”

With roofing being mostly seasonal work, Joe was drawn toward the restaurant business and found a job with Church’s Fried Chicken where he oversaw 5 of their stores from Provo to Ogden. After the franchise left Utah, Joe took over the Salt Lake location and, with the help of a business partner, opened his first restaurant under the name “Joe Morley’s Fried Chicken.” This venture lasted only a couple of years but was the perfect place to begin testing out what would become Joe’s true passion and legacy: Barbecue.

After a short time working for Stewart Sandwiches managing deli sandwich deliveries to regional convenience stores, Joe realized he was happiest when he was his own boss, and in 1984 found a small vacancy in a strip mall on Center Street in Midvale, where he opened Joe Morley’s Smoked Beef & BBQ.

At a time when BBQ was almost unheard of in Utah, Joe started with just 8 booths in the dining room, and a smoker that had been welded together from the pieces of an old gun safe in the kitchen.

With the help of friends and family as his first employees, he began introducing Smoked Beef Brisket, Pork Spare Ribs, Smoked Chicken, and Chopped Smoked Pork to his customers at the restaurant and at catered events all around the Salt Lake Valley. The recipes he created for his Baked Beans, Onion Chips, and Mud Pie soon became legendary. Those recipes combined with his 18-hour workdays began to grow the restaurant from a little “hole-in-the-wall” in Midvale, into a community gathering place for families and businesses, eventually expanding into a 180-seat restaurant and a private banquet room that would host another 80 guests. Joe took great joy in being a part of so many family reunions, Christmas parties, birthdays, anniversaries, and special occasions for his customers.

Over the course of almost 40 years in Midvale, Joe Morley’s provided a great place to work for hundreds of employees. Many of those restaurant employees were working their first job, working to pay for school, or working as a second job to help make ends meet. Joe loved seeing people reach their goals and move on to bigger and better things, but he was especially grateful for all those who worked so hard to help him fulfill his dream of running a successful restaurant.

Through his restaurant, Joe developed countless connections and relationships with his customers and vendors that almost always became his friends. He was both grateful and proud to have served his BBQ in places like the Utah State Capitol, the Mormon Tabernacle, Kennecott Copper Mine, the Chevron Refinery, the Governor’s Mansion, many office buildings, and at the top of Bridal Veil Falls. Joe also provided food for so many significant construction projects including the LDS Conference Center, the Utah Museum of Natural History, the Salt Lake County Building, the Eccles Theater, and the Salt Lake Airport, where he would sometimes serve up to 2,000 guests at a time.

Besides work, Joe loved his family, his grandchildren, his dogs, his many friends, and being in the mountains on a snowmobile. His hobbies included photography, collecting remote control and slot cars, raising beautiful Dahlias in his garden, and polishing his cars in the garage.

He will be greatly missed by many, and his example of friendship, loyalty, service, love, and hard work will live on through everyone who knew him. Joe Morley, you were a great man! We love you so much.

Joe is survived by his wife Lora, son Brent, daughter Nicole (Ryan Scott) father-in-law Earl Stuker, brothers Robert Morley (Brigitte), Russell Morley (Paula), sisters Jan Litster (Allen), Susan Vicchrilli (Vance), Elizabeth Palmer (Dave), and siblings-in-law, Grant Stuker (Joi), Sonia Nielsen (Steve), and grandchildren Jackson, Henry, Connor, Andrew, Oliver, Lennox, and Josephine.

Joe is preceded in death by his parents Robert and Janice Morley, mother-in-law Joyce Stuker, sister-in-law Dolores Morley, and niece Mackenzie Morley.

Viewings will be held on Sunday, March 23rd from 6-8pm at Goff Mortuary, 8090 S. State St, Midvale, UT 84047, and on Monday, March 24th at 10:00 am at the Midvale 5th Ward building at 8171 Jackson St, Midvale, UT 84047 and Funeral Services for Joe Morley beginning at 11:00 am in the 5th Ward chapel. Interment to follow services at Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 East Dimple Dell Road, Sandy, UT.

Live-Stream of Funeral Service     https://evt.live/joe-morley