The Rev. John J. Morrett was brought up in Springfield, Ohio. He attended Ohio State University and the Episcopal Theological School.

At the completion of his second year at seminary, he was ordered to active duty in June 1941. He was sent to the Philippine Islands. When the war broke out, he fought on Bataan and made the infamous death march. He was confined in four prison camps and finally escaped.

He returned to seminary after the war, graduated and went to China as a missionary. Upon evacuation, he went to the Hawaiian Islands in 1948 and served parishes there and in Columbus, Ohio. After retirement, he served as interim priest in five churches