In Memory

Betty Marie Lathrop (Morgan) - Class Of 1937

Betty Marie Lathrop (Morgan)

Betty Lathrop Morgan, born September 16, 1919 to Glen H. and Grace W. Lathrop in Wellington, Colorado, died April 23, 2012, at age 92, after a brief illness.  Predeceased by her husband, William J. Morgan; survived by son, Timothy (Judy) Morgan of Santa Cruz, and daughter, Penelope (Mike) Swartz of East Lansing, Michigan; three grandchildren; and brother Glen H. (Gene) Lathrop, Jr (SPHS '39).

Betty moved with her family, including seven siblings, from rural Colorado by converted school bus to Long Beach when she was six.  The family moved to South Pasadena during the Great Depression and she graduated from South Pasadena High School in 1937 and became school secretary.  In late 1941 she married William J. Morgan (SPHS '35).  She followed her husband on his military assignments throughout World War II, winding up in Los Angeles at the war's end.

Upon her husband's discharge in 1946, they moved to Santa Cruz and started Morgan's Nursery on West Cliff Drive, which they sold in 1954.  Betty subsequently worked as church secretary at First Congregational Church where she was greatly involved in the cleanup from the 1955 flood, the construction of the new church campus on High Street in 1959, and editing and publication of the history of the First Congregational Church.  In 1960 she became the church's stewardship secretary, a position she held until joining the staff of the new UCSC campus in 1966.  She held several positions at UCSC, including Campus Equipment Coordinator and a senior Administrative Assistant for Physical Planning, with involvement in all campus construction activities from 1966 until her retirement in 1991.  The day after she retired from UCSC (at age 71), she began an 18-year-run managing the local law office of her son, Timothy Morgan.

Always devoted to her family, her hobbies included gardening, driving (at age 84 she made a solo cross-country trip visiting friends and relatives), and her grandchildren.

Santa Cruz Sentinel, April 25, 2012