JIMMIE LEE MORGAN Sr.

1935 - 2019

JIMMIE LEE MORGAN SR., born on June 19, 1935, in the town of Baileysville, Wyoming County, W.Va., to parents, Virgil Lee and Oma Short Morgan, and stepmother, Bessie Wyatt Morgan, passed away at his home on Tuesday, February 26, 2019, peacefully in his sleep. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Norma Louise Wiseman Morgan; one son, Jimmie Lee Morgan Jr. of Huntington, W.Va.; one brother, Edward Morgan of Kerrsville, Texas; two sisters, Linda Toler of Sun Hill, W.Va., and Mary Lou Cline of Lewisburg, W.Va.; one granddaughter, Hannah Taylor Morgan of Lancaster, Ohio; and one brother-in-law, Everett Daniels of Huntington. He was a 1954 graduate of Baileysville High School in Wyoming County, lettering in football, basketball and baseball. One month after graduation he enlisted in the United States Air Force. He was sent to Sampson AFB in Rochester, N.Y., for basic training before being stationed at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. Six months later, he was sent to Ramstein AFB in Germany where he was trained in Tele-Communications. He spent the next two years there before returning back to the United States and enrolling at Marshall University in January 1958. He graduated in August of 1961 with an AB degree in Secondary Education. His first teaching assignment was a one-room school house at Meadowfield Elementary School outside of Milton, W.Va., where he was responsible for 16 kids in six elementary grades. He moved from Meadowfield to Geneva Kent and then to Lincoln Elementary. After four years, he moved on to Lincoln Junior High, teaching the next 23 years in Physical Education and Health, and he coached many kids and even coached Cabell County Champions in football, basketball and bowling. Jimmie was a registered sports official for the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission in all sports. He enjoyed being the official timekeeper at the Memorial Field House and Fairfield Stadium, having worked 44 years for Marshall sporting events, and moved on to the "Highlander Mountaintop" to become the official timekeeper there for football and basketball. After working with Marshall, he retired from timekeeping in 2017. He took up the sport of Bowling in 1970 and continued it until 2008. He was a Junior League coach at Imperial Lanes in Huntington for 10 years; his high series was a 745 and his high game consisted of a spare and the next 11 strikes in a row for a 290 game. He was also the league secretary for the Sportsman League at Imperial Lanes that used all 24 lanes in the establishment for 10 years. After retirement he took up woodworking as a hobby and could be seen selling his creations beside the road throughout the Huntington area, mostly during the Christmas holiday season. He stayed busy in his garage woodshop working on his hobby and cleaning up bargain finds that he and his wife would find at neighborhood rummage sales. Jimmie was a member of the Walnut Hills Nazarene Church. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in his name to the Hospice House of Huntington. The family would also like to give a special thank you to two very special people that helped out during his home stay, Darcy Thomas and Trish Finley of Hospice; without their love and kindness, Norma and Jimmie Jr. would have never made it through. Funeral services will be conducted 7 p.m. Thursday, February 28, 2019, at Chapman's Mortuary with Rev. Fred McCarty and Rev. Danny McSweeny officiating. Friends may visit after 5 p.m. until service time Thursday at Chapman's Mortuary. There will be a graveside committal service on Friday, March 1, 2019, at Forest Memorial Park in Milton, and a procession will leave the funeral home at 9:30 a.m. Friday. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.chapmans-mortuary.com.