Marian Morgan sometimes rode a mule to school, helped her husband milk cows and drove a school bus.
Morgan, who died at 99, is thought to have lived on the original Highlands Ranch longer than anyone: off and on for 61 years.
Morgan’s late husband, Bud Morgan, had been a foreman on the ranch when it was owned by the Phipps family, long before it became a gigantic housing development. Each successive owner allowed her the same privilege of living there, said her daughter, Ronda Whitman of Laramie.
Morgan, who reluctantly gave up driving her maroon Lincoln Continental when she was 95, lived on the property until moving in with Whitman in June.
Morgan seemed to face anything that came up: moving 22 times in 11 years when her husband changed jobs, getting kids quiet while riding a bus by leading them in “Mairzy Doats” or killing the plans of one of her own children who wanted to run away from home.
“She knew psychology,” said son Kent Morgan of Wichita.
She told her young son after he announced he was running away that she would help him pack and asked him if he thought he’d sleep under an overpass. His running urge suddenly faded, Whitman said.
“She didn’t hesitate to correct kids, with a switch or yardstick,” said son Roger Morgan of Wichita. “I got a few swats.”
“No one could keep up with her” when it came to work, which she did from daylight until well after dark, Roger Morgan said.
The kids had to help with practically scouring the house each Saturday.
“I think she thought how your house looked spoke to your character,” said Roger Morgan.
Despite the discipline, Marian Morgan “always connected with people and had a large extended family,” Whitman said.
“She believed everyone had some good quality,” said Roger Morgan.
Marian Carpenter was born in Smith County, Kan., on March 26, 1911, and finished high school. She went to what was then Concordia College in Concordia, Kan., and began teaching in a one-room school. She had to give up teaching when she got married because school officials said there was an abundance of single teachers they could hire.
She married Randall “Bud” Morgan in 1934. He died in 1974.
In addition to her sons and daughter, she is survived by another son, A.K. Morgan of Shelbyville, Tenn.; 13 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; four great-great-grandchildren; and her sister, Vada Terrell of Orleans, Neb.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
