Ray N. Morgan

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the International Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia Foundation, in memory of Ray. Ray Neal Morgan was born November 5, 1938, to Ruth (Trimble) and Cecil D. Morgan in Perry, IA. He was born in the same hospital where Buck Barrow, brother of Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde fame had died just 5 years earlier. At the age of 1 he moved with his parents to Carroll, IA, where he attended public school through the 8th grade. His parents then moved to Storm Lake where he attended Storm Lake High School, graduating in the Class of 1957. After high school he enrolled at Buena Vista College where he met the love of his life, Verna Lee Richards. They were married at the Hartford United Community Presbyterian Church in Hartford, IA, on May 30, 1959. They lived in Des Moines where Ray worked for Kinney Shoes in Park Fair Shopping Center, then to Merle Hay Mall when it opened and back again to Park Fair as assistant manager. He managed stores in Grand Island, NE, and Sioux City, IA. In 1962, Ray resigned from Kinney Shoes and moved to Fonda, IA, to join his parents in their nursing home business as Administrator and Nurse at the newly b...[more]

View Full Online Obituary and Tributes

t care center in Fonda. At the death of his mother, Ray and his father decided to sell the care facility and do something else. In 1972, Ray, Verna Lee and their three children moved to Algona where he and Verna Lee had purchased the local garbage collection business. In 1992, they decided to sell Morgan's Sanitation and retire. Ray became restless in retirement and purchased the Furniture Loft, which he and Verna Lee, along with another couple ran until 1999 and then closed. In 1997, Ray and Verna Lee purchased Dad's Belgian Waffles and started serving waffle fundraisers for non-profit organizations. He and his wife ran the business until 2004, when their son took over the daily operations, but Ray and Verna Lee continued to serve waffles until Ray's health declined in the spring of 2007. Ray considered himself an entrepreneur, innovator, impact team player, goal setter and a risk taker with a "big picture" mentality. Along with his parents they built one of the first all brick care facilities in Iowa that had no steps. He was one of the first small businesses in Algona to computerize his garbage collection business in 1979. In 1986, he purchased the first right hand drive garbage collection trucks in Iowa and people came from all over the state to see how a one man, right hand collection truck might fit into their operation. The waffle business became well known through the Midwest where Ray helped start other couples in Minnesota, Nebraska and Texas doing waffles. Ray was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church. He was active in his church all his adult life. He was an ordained Elder and also served as a Trustee. He was a lay volunteer in the Presbytery of North Central Iowa and the Synod of the Lakes and Prairies for 31+ years. He was elected Commissioner to the General Assembly and served as a Committee Moderator. He served as Moderator of the Presbyter and was elected as the first layperson to serve as Moderator of the Committee on Ministry in the Presbytery of North Central Iowa. He has served on almost every committee at the Presbytery level. Ray has always had a keen interest in politics and government. After the 1968 election he was asked by then Senator Harold Hughes to serve on a Democratic Party Task Force to look into the fairness of the Iowa delegate nominating process. Ray was assigned to look at the precinct caucus. He and Alan Baron wrote the Iowa "first in the nation" caucus system. Iowa was the first state in the nation to do away with the "winner take all" concept as a result of rules Ray and Alan wrote. Ray died Sunday, October 5, 2014, at the Good Samaritan Society - Algona. He was 75. He is survived by his wife Verna Lee Morgan of Algona; children, Jane and Norman Hartsock of Ware; John and Jo Morgan of Algona; Joan and Randy Fitzgerald of Lotts Creek; grandchildren: Tyler Morgan, Gail Hartsock, Cally Rae Thompson, Mick Hartsock and Elton Thompson; great-grandchildren, Braelynn Nicole; Dreyson John and Keygan Ray Morgan; brother, Michael and Carol Morgan of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, and nieces, Minda Caesar and Kristin Balcita. He was preceded in death by his parents.