Guy Morgan OFM

BAY PINES, Fla - Father Guy Morgan, OFM, 90, a professed Franciscan friar for 67 years and a priest for 62, died Friday (March 10, 2017) at Bay Pines Veterans Hospital.

A viewing was held Tuesday (March 14, 2017) at St. Mary Our Lady of Grace Church, St. Petersburg, followed by a Mass of Christian burial celebrated by Father David Convertino, OFM. Burial followed at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Clearwater.

Father Morgan was born May 31, 1926, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to John and Mary Stanton Morgan and baptized John Joseph at St. Teresa Church in Brooklyn. After attending the parish grammar school, he graduated from St. Francis Preparatory School in Brooklyn in 1944 before attending Holy Name Province's St. Joseph Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, N.Y.

He was received into the Franciscan Order on Aug. 12, 1948, in Paterson, N.J., and professed his first vows there the following year. He then studied philosophy, earning his degree from St. Bonaventure University in 1951 and briefly attending Fordham University before continuing his theological education at Holy Name College in Washington. Father Morgan professed solemn vows on Sept. 17, 1952, in Washington and was ordained to the priesthood on May 5, 1954, by Archbishop Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, completing his theological studies in spring 1955.

Father Morgan began his priestly ministry as a professor at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y., from 1955 to 1956, where he also ran the print shop. He continued working with young adults as assistant at the Newman Center at the University of South Carolina at Columbia for one year. After brief assignments in Providence, R.I., and Paterson, N.J., in 1958 and two years at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City, Father Morgan began a 20-year stint as a chaplain for the U.S. Air Force. He was stationed at various bases around the world, including Charleston, S.C.; Brindisi, Italy; and Marysville, Calif. He served in Vietnam, where he was injured during a rocket attack. He retired from the Air Force in 1980 with the rank of colonel.

From 1980 to 1981, Father Morgan took a year of continuing education at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif., earning his master's in theological studies. For the next two years, he worked as an assistant at St. Joseph Parish in East Rutherford, N.J., before moving in 1983 to Colorado, where he served at several parishes in Fort Collins and Denver, and worked with Vietnam veterans who suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder. He also served as chaplain of the Fort Collins Police Department and for the Region XIII Single Separated, Widowed, Divorced Catholics group, led encounter weekends for engaged Catholics and counseled people attending Alcoholics Anonymous.

Father Morgan entered semiretirement in 1996 and continued to live in Fort Collins with his sister, assisting at local parishes and traveling to Sacramento, Calif., during the winter months. In 1997, he retired to St. Anthony Friary in St. Petersburg but remained active and assisted where needed, including at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Greenville, S.C., during the summer of 2010. In 2011, Father Morgan moved to St. Anthony Friary, Butler, N.J., where he lived for two years before returning to St. Petersburg.

Father Morgan is survived by his sister, Joan O'Connor; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Memorial donations may be sent to Franciscan Friars, Holy Name Province, 144 W. 32nd St., New York, NY 10001-3202.