Colonel Paul Michael Morton, MD

Colonel Paul Michael Morton, MD, passed away on July 16th, 2024, in his adopted hometown of Dillon, Colorado.

Born in Ohio on August 1, 1973, and raised in Midland, Michigan, Paul's childhood mirrored that of many other young Michiganders. He enjoyed swimming, riding bikes, camping, sports, and scouting, and capped off his teen years by becoming an Eagle Scout. He met his first lifelong friend at the age of six and managed to maintain a tight-knit group of friends from his formative years until the present.

Following high school, Paul received a congressional nomination and was accepted to the elite United States Air Force Academy. The US military academies are known for their extreme selectiveness and rigor. In 1995, he graduated 2nd in his class of 987. Academy lore may best recall Paul as an incredibly focused academician but those who knew and loved him most remember his fearlessness in hall brawls, graceful jumps on straight skis, unwavering loyalty to his friends, the way he doubled over in laughter and how he always made you feel like you were the most important person in the room. Paul originally wanted to be a fighter pilot but found a passion for medicine during his time at the Academy and was awarded a scholarship to the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth upon graduation.

Paul excelled at Dartmouth and was remembered by his classmates as a kind, fun-loving, and curious student. Ever focused on service and the outdoors, Paul joined the Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team, a local search and rescue team covering rescue needs in New Hampshire and Vermont. His work with this organization eventually led him, along with Dr. Matt Sholl and Dr. Matthew Russell to form a small non-profit business, Mountain Aid Training International (MATI), focused on teaching wilderness medicine and rescue. The skill set taught by MATI was adopted at the Maine Medical Center as an elective which is still offered to this day. Paul graduated in the top 20 percent of his medical school class at Dartmouth in 1999 and completed an Emergency Medicine residency at Maine Medical Center in Portland in 2002. While in Portland, Paul fell in love with his second favorite New England sports team after the Patriots, the Boston Red Sox.

With seven years of medical training complete, Paul embarked upon an Air Force career of distinction, serving as an Emergency Medicine physician and an Aerospace Medicine physician at several U.S. Air Force bases, with two overseas deployments to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. Upon completion of a deployment in 2005, he received an Iraqi Campaign Medal for his outstanding service in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. But this award was not what impacted him the most. His continued friendship with many comrades, including Jamie Dana who was a service dog handler with him during this deployment, was what impacted him the most. Jamie was hit by an IED and Paul saved her under austere conditions and against all medical odds. Jamie and Rex, her dog, met Paul in person after part of her long recovery, and this meeting will be forever etched in the minds of all who knew and loved Paul.

His final deployment to Afghanistan while still on active duty was as lead physician with a Joint Special Operations Task Force. During this mission, he worked in an active field environment with an elite military team. Details of this mission remain undisclosed, but Paul was honored to be awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal when he completed this tour, given for his meritorious achievement as a physician in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Paul was always thought of by his medical team as a calm, reassuring person in times of stress and brought these qualities with him when he transitioned from active duty to the Colorado Air National Guard (COANG,) serving as their Chief of Aerospace Medicine. Paul was promoted to Colonel in 2017 and was soon after made the Deputy State Air Surgeon. In this role, he led the transformation of the COANG flight medicine program. He also enjoyed his voluntary deployments to Puerto Rico and Guantanamo Bay during this time.

Paul’s next challenge as a healthcare leader was COVID-19. During the pandemic he assisted the Colorado National Guard (CONG) Joint Task Force for COVID, by developing a multi-state improvised alternate care facility plan and successfully integrating joint medical assets across the CONG. This was all in preparation to handle overflow if the civilian hospitals became overtasked.

Most recently, Paul was very active in supporting US State Partners in the European Command (EUCOM) with his CONG team. Paul traveled quarterly to Jordan, Slovenia, Hungary, Estonia, N. Macedonia, and Montenegro in this capacity. The CONG team helped these countries with various lines of effort focused on improving their medical capabilities to respond to needs in the area. Paul developed many friendships with colleagues overseas during his work with EUCOM in recent years.

In addition to his extensive military accomplishments, Paul was a successful businessman. He co-founded OnPoint Urgent Care along with fellow ER physician Dr. Jeff Bushnell in 2008. The urgent care business grew and in 2017 merged with a professional management team and several other primary care and specialty practices, with the goal of providing quality care and convenience for entire families to be served in one local network. It became known as OnPoint Medical Group (OMG), a tip of the hat to the quality by which Paul and Jeff’s organization was known. OMG is today the largest independent physician group in Colorado and employs approximately 300 support staff and 140 providers spread over 20 clinics in metro Denver.

In 2006, Paul met the love of his life, Rebekah Zaemisch. After a fairytale wedding week in Italy with 30 of their family and friends, they enjoyed a leisurely honeymoon in Italy and Greece. Later, the two took a sabbatical from their medical careers and set out on a 16-month trip around the world, during which they visited countless countries on 6 continents. The travel was in preparation for their next big adventure; Gabriel and Varenna, who were born in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Gabe and Varenna share in their father's legacy of love, curiosity, and wonder. The Morton family was fortunate to spend long winter months in Costa Rica, four seasons in a row, where they enrolled their young children in a local Spanish school and pursued their own passions of surfing and yoga. Being a parent to Gabe and Varenna was the joy of Paul's life.

Beloved husband, devoted father, cherished friend, Paul is survived by his wife Rebekah Layne Zaemisch, MD; two children Gabriel Matteo Morton and Varenna Layne Zaemisch; parents Harry and Joyce Morton; sister Christina (Jerry) Morton-Gase, MD and their children Natalia and Gerald Gase; thirteen other nieces and nephews-in-law; grandmother Beatrice Shape; aunt and godmother Katherine (Jay) Doran; cousins James (Jessica) Doran and Drs. Matthew (Carmel) Doran; great-aunt June Van Ostrand; godfather Jan Van Ostrand; parents-in-law Steven and Priscilla Zaemisch; a long list of sibling-in-laws, and a host of cherished friends. He was preceded in death by grandmother Johanna Lauer and grandfather Joseph Semenuk.

A memorial service and celebration of life with full military honors will be held at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on August 5th, 2024. The memorial service begins at 1330 in the Community Chapel. A reception will be held at the Eisenhower Golf Course from 1500-1900.

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