[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 24, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING GARY MORGAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 24, 2009

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Gary Lewis Morgan 
of Sonoma County, California, who passed away January 16, 2009, at the 
age of 55. Gary was a loving father to his son James and a loving 
friend to Emmie Morgan, his ex-wife, James' mother, and a member of my 
staff.
  Born in the San Fernando Valley in 1953, Gary grew up there and 
attended Monroe High School where he excelled as a gymnast and as a 
barbershop quartet singer, a passion he later introduced to James.
  In 1975, Gary graduated from California State University, Northridge 
with a degree in graphic design and a job designing ads for the Yellow 
Pages. He met Emmie at the home of a mutual friend and immediately 
offered to read her palm. As Emmie says, this ``involved some holding 
of the hand. After that, he was telling people about this wonderful 
woman he met named Emarah. That was our joke, and he still often called 
me that.''
  They married in 1983, and their son James was born in March, 1985. 
Emmie recalls how ``the morning after he was born, Gar came to the 
hospital in striped suspenders and a button that said, `Kids Are 
People, Too.' He loved being Jamie's Dad.''
  Looking for the best place to raise Jamie, they moved to Sonoma 
County in 1986. Gary became well known there as a singer, muralist, and 
multimedia artist whose work includes statues, flags, and stained glass 
panels. One of his statues was purchased by the Queen of England, and a 
flag he designed was flown at the Washington Monument for the 1976 
Bicentennial.
  Gary's murals appear in various sites around Sonoma County, including 
Harmony School, an elementary school in Occidental. I was fortunate to 
have the opportunity to see this mural with Gary and talk with him 
about the creation of it. He was selected through an interview process 
that included students, and he made sure to seek their input as he 
developed the design. Of course, he had to listen to the teachers, too, 
so when one of them said, ``Hey, there has to be a book somewhere,'' he 
made sure he gave the dragon by the tree something to read.
  Gary's musical abilities were evident in his beautiful voice, and he 
sang in three local choirs--the Occidental Community Choir, the Sufi 
Choir, and the Center for Spiritual Living's One Heart Choir.
  His musical talents were clearly passed to Jarmie, but it was Gary's 
(and Emmie's) nurturing that also helped James grow into a fine young 
man. He is currently a student at Sacramento State University and will 
enter the Berklee College of Music in Boston in the fall, which would 
have made his father very proud.
  One of Gary's other interests was metaphysics, the study of what lies 
beyond the physical world, and this interest was a comfort to him in 
his times of trouble.
  In addition to Emmie and James, Gary is survived by his siblings Gale 
and Bryan, his mother Barbara, and his long-time friend, Zan Spencer.
  Madam Speaker, Gary Morgan's life touched many people. As Emmie 
Morgan stated, ``He was an amazingly kind, authentic, sincere, honest 
human being. Every person I've talked to tells me they were close to 
him, even people who met him only once.'' That is a testament to Gary 
Morgan's character that makes me proud to honor him today.

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