Daughter of Ray Morgan recalls life of 100-year-old WWII veteran

Ray Morgan got the surprise of his life last fall in Windy Hill, a parade in honor of his 100th birthday. It turned out to be the final birthday for the World War II combat veteran, who passed away on Aug. 23. He lived a long, fulfilling life. "He sure did," said daughter Mary Brown. "And he gave us a great life as well. As hard as it is to say goodbye to my dad, I'm just so grateful. He was facing metastatic cancer and he didn't have to shrink down to nothing. His heart just kind of gave out. So, this was preferable." Morgan, a Wisconsin native, flew 26 combat missions in World War II — 13 as a tail gunner on a B-17 bomber and 13 as a radar operator. His last mission was over Berlin. Several years after his wife, Dot, of 71 years passed away, Morgan moved to Portside Grand Dunes. "His quote was that he wasn't moving into a senior/independent living facility to grow old," Brown said. "He was moving there to make new friends. And that's exactly what he did for the 5-6 years he was there." Brown also added that when new people moved into Portside, "My dad was the first one to one to greet them and make friends with them." When his 100th birthday approaching last fall, Brown and Morgan's other daughter, Joanne Duncan, planned a big family party. They rented a house in Windy Hill for the occasion. Morgan knew about the party. He didn't know about the parade. That was a surprise. "And it was a surprise," Brown said. "He kept saying he wanted a flyover because he was in the Air Force. I tried and tried to figure that out how to do that. But it was way too cost prohibitive. So, Jo came up with the idea for a parade. That really tickled him." Local law enforcement, firefighters and veterans paraded past the home on Ocean Boulevard to Morgan's delight. A celebration of life was held at Portside recently. "The room was just packed with seniors," Brown said. "It was his wish that we give them a chance to pay their respects, too."