Mary Elizabeth Morgan went home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on February 14th, 2018.  She passed away in her home at the age of 97, surrounded by her family. 

Mary was born in Buffalo, New York on November 6, 1920, the daughter of Theodore and Ada Moore. 

She met the love of her life, William Henry, when she was only 7 years old and he was 10.  They saw each other on and off over the years because their grandparents were friends, but since he lived in York, Pennsylvania and she lived in Buffalo, it wasn’t too often. 

Bill joined the Air Force right out of high school, and any time he had leave he made sure to get to Mary any way he could.  When Mary was 18, she snuck out of her house in the middle of the night and hitchhiked 300 miles to be with Bill.  The next day, on October 2, 1939, they were married.  Bill says that they figured they had better do it quick before their families tried to stop them.  The night they were married they had a 20 cent spaghetti dinner together to celebrate.

On August 29th, 1940 Mary gave birth to her only son, William Jr. 

A few years after Bill and Mary were married, they moved to sunny California to escape the cold east coast winters.  Mary’s first job was at Northrop Corporation and then she worked for TRW for 15 years.   She also volunteered at two different hospitals and was always the favorite volunteer.  She took pride in her work and everyone loved her.

Mary loved the outdoors and gardening was one of her beloved pastimes.  She was always planting something new and her plants flourished – everyone always said she had a green thumb.  Her other passion was animals.  She had many cats in her life, but she never bought one of them.  They all came to her.  She was known to feed any animal that showed up on her porch, including a number of neighborhood cats and even a wayward Bobcat.  

Mary loved her two granddaughters very much and doted on them.  There were many, many trips to Disneyland as well as trips around the United States.  The girls loved to spend the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and were spoiled rotten. 

Mary is survived by her husband of 78 years, William, her son, William Jr. and his wife Sharon Lee, two granddaughters, Cheryl Lyn and Deanne Marie, ten great-grandchildren and one great-great grandson.

Mary was preceded in death by her two sisters, Jayne and Jo-ann and her three brothers, Ted, Dick, and Donald.

On February 14th a beautiful Valentine went to heaven.  She will be greatly missed!

 Service Information