Mary Grace Morgan

Mary Grace Morgan, 88, passed away February 20, 2012.

Mary Grace was born September 26, 1923, in Topeka, Kansas, to Edna Jessie Walker and Edgar Allan Burkhardt, the youngest of four children. She graduated from Washburn College and taught school in a one-room schoolhouse in Pleasant Valley west of Topeka. She married Ray E. Morgan, Jr. in 1946 in Topeka. They moved to Shawnee, Kansas, in 1951 when Ray took a job with The Kansas City Star.

Together they raised five children, who were her career. She was active with PTA, Camp Fire Girls, Cub Scouts and the Shawnee Indian Mission Historical Society. The family hosted four exchange students, from Norway, Jamaica, Turkey and Argentina.

Mary was a longtime volunteer at Colonial Church and the Johnson County Library. She and Ray traveled extensively including China, Russia, Africa, South America and Europe. For three weeks every summer, she created a home on the road as the family took off across the United States on memorable camping trips. Ray preceded her in death on the same date in 2001.

Survivors include her children, Stephen Ray Morgan (Paula), Mary Susan Morgan Thompson (Lee), Sally Ann Morgan Huggins (Howard), Cynthia Louise Morgan Lafferty (George), Scott Ellingwood Morgan (Kathleen); 13 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and her sister, Helen Burkhardt Jensen of Topeka.

The family is grateful for her neighbors, the Freyermuths, to the wonderful care by Midwest Healthcare and at Kansas City Hospice House.

Memorial service will be at 11:00 a.m., Friday, February 24, 2012, at Colonial Church, 7039 Mission Road, Prairie Village, Kansas. A reception will follow.

Memorial contributions may be made to Colonial Church, 7039 Mission Road, Prairie Village, Kansas 66208.