Salt Lake Tribune, 12/11/2002

Michael Charles Morgan 6/7/38 ~ 12/7/02 "Morgan" died at home unexpectedly, but peacefully while reading, on Saturday, December 7, 2002. Born in Montpelier, Idaho, he was the treasured son of railroaders Jay Vaughn and Mary Cochran Morgan, and brother to Janie Sue and Nancy, all of whom preceded him in death.

He is survived by his wife, Kathleen, and his children, Jason and Marisa, to whom he devoted his life. He will be remembered by countless friends and family who will miss him terribly. To have known Morgan is to recall picnics in Millcreek Canyon, Diet Pepsi, Beer Club, Silver Oak wine trips, Sigma Nu Thursday lunches, Super Bowl parties, his extravagant celebrations, Gourmet, his eclectic taste in books and music, woodworking, dozens of tape measures, photography, his red shorts, "the boot," the Utemobile, his Juan Fangio driving style, and all the lives he touched.

A proud graduate of West High School, he joined the Sigma Nu fraternity (#811) in 1959 and graduated from the University of Utah in 1963 with degrees in political science and philosophy, including a six-year "internship" at the Twilite Lounge. Morgan fled Zion in January, 1967, for adventures in Alaska, starting with a vocational rehabilitation survey that took him to every village in the Alaskan Bush. He settled in Juneau in 1969 where he completed his M.P.A. degree and began a thirty-plus year affiliation with vocational rehabilitation programs.

He was Director of the Alaska Division of Vocational Rehabilitation from 1974 - 1987 and served in various roles, including president, on the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation. He later worked with the Regional Rehabilitation Continuing Education program in San Diego. He served for one year as Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration in Washington, D.C.

He returned to Salt Lake City in 1991 and began a new career with the Utah Department of Health, Medicaid Division, where he was Deputy Director at the time of his death. Morgan was a life-long student of history, politics and religion and loved nothing better than a shouting match on those topics.

Please join his family and friends for a celebration of the "Life and Times of Morgan" on Thursday, December 12 from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. at Roma Ristorante, 1560 E. 3300 South. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Homeless Youth Resource Center, 655 South State, Salt Lake City, UT 84111.
Published in the Salt Lake Tribune on 12/11/2002.