Morgan celebrating 100th birthday, shares memories

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

In 100 years on this earth, Joe Morgan, a resident of Vancrest of Van Wert, has seen and experienced a lot of things.

Morgan was born April 18, 1926, in a home on Center St. in Van Wert. You could say he arrived in a blaze of glory – the house in which he was born was on fire as he came into the world.

“Up on the roof – dad and the doctor went out to look and see what was going on,” Morgan said with a chuckle. “Mom was inside by herself, giving birth to little old Joe”

While there was some damage, the home wasn’t destroyed.

On Friday, family members, Vancrest staff and others gathered on Friday to celebrate Morgan’s milestone with birthday party in his honor at the facility. Before the party, Morgan reflected back on his life and noted his childhood was an average one.

“I played with the other kids and everything went good,” he explained. “My parents took good care of me.”

When he was three years old, the Great Depression hit and Morgan said it certainly affected his family.

“It did drastically,” he said. “We learned to do without and we did without a lot although I praise my mom and dad for feeding and taking care of me and all the food they sacrificed.”

Morgan was a member of the Van Wert High School Class of 1944, and later attended Bowling Green State University.

“I enjoyed school and the extracurricular activities, sports and stuff like that,” he said. “It was just a great town to live as a kid.”

He also served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

“I was classified, I never went into combat,” he explained. “I was on a ship going overseas so I spent some time over in Europe.”

He excelled at Morse Code and could take 35 words a minute in his prime, when 13 was the standard to get a license.

Morgan went on to work for the Central Insurance Company, doing accounting before branching into other work. He noted still meets with former co-workers for breakfast each Friday morning at McDonald’s.

He was an avid bicyclist, enjoyed playing basketball and was a ham radio operator, a hobby he still enjoys.

“I heard one of postal carriers in Dallas talk about it when I lived down there and when after I got back here, I saw in the paper they had free classes – that’s for me, anything free – and so my dad and I went and we got our licenses,” he explained. “It’s been a hobby and I feel like it’s one of the real clean and nice hobbies.”

When asked about what may have contributed to reaching the milestone mark of 100 years, Morgan had a simple answer.

“I think it was the man upstairs – the good Lord,” he stated. “He saw to it that I made it and I’m still here. I tried to eat three meals a day and get eight hours of sleep and I’m still doing it, and I take care of myself.”

Morgan has lived through many historical moments but one he remembers vividly is December 7, 1941 – the day Pearl Harbor was bombed.

“We were playing and mom yelled out the door ‘we’re at war’” he said. “That was a big item, believe me.”

To help put things in perspective, television was in its first days, literally, when Morgan was born. In those early days, television was a far cry from what it is today.

“Back when television first seemed to show up for me, a friend bought a television and invited me down to see it and this is what the screen looked like,” Morgan said while holding up a blank piece of white paper. “It was about all snow.”

As technology improved, Morgan noted he enjoyed comedy shows, including Fibber McGee and Molly.

While he never took a great interest in the country’s space program, Morgan marveled at how the U.S. was able to put a man on the moon in 1969.

“It was fascinating to see what we had been reading about as kids in a comic book,” he said. “It’s almost unbelievable and to see them live land on a dime – can you believe that? It came right down and they zeroed right down to the inch.”

Morgan was asked if he could go back and give his younger self advice, what would it be?

“Be natural and human and do a little bit of thinking about somebody beside yourself,” he said. “I like people and I try to help as much as I can but I am not a rich man, so I can’t help financially to a great extent but I’ve helped many people get their car pushed out of a snowbank and things like that and I’m happy doing it.”

At 100, Morgan said he has no complaints.

As he “I can’t hardly believe that I feel as good as I do,” Morgan said. “I don’t really have any pain and I enjoy people and my children – I’m as happy as a bug in a rug.”