Catharine Louise (Cooney) Morgan Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Catharine Louise (Cooney) Morgan passed away on Friday, September 7, 2018. Catharine was born in Pasco (Benton County), Washington on February 12, 1924. She was the only child of Merlin J. Cooney, a Pasco policeman and Maude Lenore (Smith) Cooney, a church organist at the local Methodist Church. Catharine was a child singer on local radio and later at the USO. She attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey (now part of Ryder University). After the war, she married a Methodist minister, newly minted at Boston University and sent to the rural agricultural and irrigated fields of Eastern Washington. Their first church was at Prosser, the home of Washington State's wine industry. It was there that Catharine gave birth to the first of her three children: Ann Natalie followed by Colleen Adele (sister Gay Michele was born in Vancouver, Washington. At all of her churches, Catharine was a soloist and choir director, typically for the children and youth and always a gracious host as the pastor's wife. When the family moved to Seattle (1957), they served at six other UM churches over a 30+ year period. Catharine was active in music circles in Seattle including choral, vocal solo, choir and other events as well as taking up the autoharp which she used performed in travel program on England and Ireland. In the 1960's, she went to work as a travel agent and became a specialist in the work and travels of John Wesley, the accidental founder of the Methodist Church and a well-known Anglican preacher. She led approximately 30 tours of Great Britain and made many friends outside of the church that she loved and served with her husband, Rev. M. Chester Morgan. Catharine and Chester retired in the 1980's and moved into the Bayview Retirement Community, in Seattle in 1999. At Bayview, Catharine distinguished herself as the Chair of the Rooftop Garden and produced many fund-raisers while cultivating her garden. She also took on the task of Historian and Archivist because of her knowledge of the pioneer history of the estate on which the retirement facility was built after it was bequeathed to a Seattle church. Her friendship with descendants and the photo archives she developed remain an important contribution to the Bayview community. Following the 8/2016 death of her husband, Catharine moved into a small Assisted Living unit and remained there until shortly before her death. She died in the nursing unit at Bayview having spent her last days with her daughters, Ann & Gay, two of her three grandchildren, Matthew, Lola & Seth and one of her three great grandchildren: Rylan, Brielle and newborn Alice.

Catharine Louise (Cooney) Morgan

February 12, 1924 - September 7, 2018