Wednesday, September 5, 2001
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Wednesday, September 5, 2001 |
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PTC flags fly at half-mast for former Mayor Morgan By SALLIE SATTERTHWAITE
Until last week, 42-year-old Peachtree City could make a rare claim: Every one of its seven mayors was still living, and within its boundaries. But on Aug. 29, Howard A. Morgan, Peachtree City's fourth mayor, died at Fayette Community Hospital. He was 89. City flags are at half staff until after Morgan's memorial service, which is scheduled for Saturday. Despite appearing to be near death several times over the past few years, said his wife, Dolly, he somehow always "bounced back. He had nine lives." He loved to travel, and took a long wished-for trip to China after nearly succumbing to a massive infection in 1993. And, rather than miss a Carribean cruise, he consented to renting a wheelchair. Heart and kidney failure, however, finally overwhelmed him. Howard Morgan was born in February 1912 when his family lived in Urichsville, Ohio. He graduated from Ohio State University after transferring from Miami University at Oxford and began his lifelong career as an industrial engineer with U.S. Steel, first in Pittsburgh and then in New York City. After characteristic research and planning, Morgan took early retirement at the age of 58. He and his wife, the former Dolores Henninger, built their retirement home in 1970 on the edge of Lake Peachtree when Peachtree City was still in adolescence. In 1971, when then-Mayor Chip Conner declined to run for re-election, Morgan stood for the post and began a new vocation that continued until Herb Frady unseated him in 1977. The consummate public servant, Morgan resumed his seat at City Hall as a councilman from 1980 to 1984, and was appointed to the city's Water and Sewer Authority. He also served as a member of both Peachtree City's and Fayette County's library boards. Local historians occasionally note that each mayor's era advanced the planned city to a new level in its progression from a dream on paper to a mature metropolis. In a 1994 interview, Morgan said he took pride in having actively promoted volunteerism in Peachtree City. Volunteers pulled together to found a library, to develop a recreation program, and to staff a highly professional fire and rescue department during his tenure. The Planning and Zoning Commission, the Industrial Development Authority, and the Water and Sewer Authority also date from the Morgan years. The formal codification of a zoning ordinance may have been his most important single legacy, he said in 1994, but it was "concerned, thinking citizens" that made Peachtree City succeed, he said. Mayor Bob Lenox said Morgan's service to the city was timed perfectly. "He was in the right place at the right time to continue to develop Peachtree City as we have it today," he said. "We'll miss him coming to City Council meetings and expounding on the philosophy of being a public servant. I'll be proud when my picture joins his on the wall at City Hall," Lenox added. Until his health failed, the white-haired former mayor frequented public meetings and did not hesitate to contribute to discussions. Former council member Caroline Price recalled a meeting that seemed to go on for hours as a group of disgruntled residents held forth. She and her colleagues were grateful when Morgan stood to address them. "Go ahead and make the decision that seems right to you," was the gist of what he said. "There will always be opposition, but ten years from now no one will even remember what seems so important to them tonight." Besides his wife of 59 years, Morgan is survived by sons David (and Nancy) Morgan, of Fresno, Calif., and Greg (and Nancy) of Lutz, Fla.; a sister in Indiana, and two nephews, sons of his late brother, in Ohio. A memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church, Peachtree City, the Morgans' congregation. Memorial gifts may be made to the church or to Southwest Christian Hospice.
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