Victor S. Morello

Victor S. Morello, 90, a retired chemical engineer for The Dow Chemical Co. and a proud member of the Midland Kiwanis Club, died Sunday, Dec. 11, 2005, of natural causes.

Victor was originally from the Pittsburgh, Pa. area. He came to Midland in 1938 to work for Dow. Except for leaving to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II and to attend graduate school, he lived the rest of his life here.

He was born on October 15, 1915 in Clairton, Pa., the son of Salvatore Morello, a Presbyterian missionary minister and Anna (Junek) Morello, a nurse. While he was still a toddler, his mother died during the great flu epidemic of 1918. He was salutatorian of the Wilkinsburg High School class of 1934 and received a scholarship to attend the Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University. He was graduated in 1938, one of the worst years of the depression, with a bachelor of science in chemical engineering.

Victor was one of only six young scientists hired that year for a training program by the then, small-but-upcoming chemical company. Midland was a much smaller place then, too. He arrived in town at 2 p.m., found the only restaurant in town and after he ordered the last meal in the kitchen, the diner shut down for the day. At Dow, he was assigned to work on a pilot project to run a plant for the continuous chlorination of benzene.

When the U.S. entered World War II, he joined the Army Corps of Engineers. Victor served as an instructor at Officer Candidate School in Fort Belvoir, Va. and later was deployed overseas to the Phillipines, where he was awarded a Bronze Star, and to occupied Japan .

After his discharge in 1946, he returned to Carnegie Tech under the GI Bill. He was awarded a master of science degree in 1947 and a doctorate in 1949. While in Pittsburg, he met Carolyn Skapik, a young schoolteacher. After a whirlwind courtship, they married on June 15, 1948, at the Heinz Memorial Chapel in Pittsburgh .

Victor brought his bride to Midland in 1949, when he returned to Dow to work in the Benzene Products Lab. He went on to work in Executive Research, the E.C. Britton Lab and the Process Engineering Dept., developing computer applications for several plants. In 1968, he was made a process consultant, a position he held until his retirement in 1979.

In retirement, Mr. Morello and his wife loved to travel, often to visit relatives in Italy and Czechoslovakia , and often to visit their peripatetic daughter, Carol. Victor was active in the Memorial Presbyterian Church, serving as a trustee for six years and in the Midland Kiwanis Club. He threw himself wholeheartedly into projects like bellringing during the Christmas season, the annual rose sale and the sale of tickets to travel lectures. He also volunteered many years for an AARP program in which he assisted local residents complete their tax forms. He had been a member of the American Chemical Society for more than 65 years.

Victor's wife, Carolyn, died in 1997, a few weeks after their 49th wedding anniversary. He and his daughter drew even closer. Carol Morello, of Washington, DC, is his sole survivor, and mourns him deeply. He will be remembered by his friends as a good and decent man, who generously tried to help make his community a better place. In that spirit, in lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Midland Kiwanis Foundation, c/o D.D. Hammond, Treasurer, 3318 Garland, Midland, MI 48642 .

Funeral services for Victor will be conducted 11 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2005, from the Wilson MILLER Funeral Home with the Rev. Wallace H. Mayton III officiating. Interment will be in Midland Cemetery. Visitation will be on Tuesday 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Personal messages of support may be left for the family at www.wilson-miller.com.