Goderich Signal Star, 2017-03-15, Page 7Wednesday, March 15, 2017 • Signal Star 7
History
Reverend Doctor Chris Morgan: 'The Marrying Man'
he older I get,
the less judg-
mental I've
become' are words of
wisdom that come from
one of Huron County's
most interesting charac-
ters. Reverend Doctor
Chris Morgan is known
to thousands of couples
that he has wed as the
`marrying man; but few
know the full depth of
his long and varied life
journey which has
recently come to its
earthly end.
Christopher Morgan
was conceived in Scot-
land but born on a
couch on Symington
Avenue in Toronto on
June 14, 1927, shortly
after his parents immi-
grated to Canada.
His father, Harold,
played professional soc-
cer for the Scottish
National team and was
recruited by Toronto's
Dunlop Soccer Club who
paid for the family to
come to Canada.
Although his father was
an atheist, his mother,
Margaret, was a devout
Presbyterian who took
Chris and his younger
brother Steven to church
regularly.
Growing up in the
Depression, Morgan
lacked the advantages of
wealth and education.
His father made a $1.00
per day driving a Coca-
Cola truck. The family
rented an attic apartment
and Chris received his
early education in a one
room school.
In 1943, during World
Huron History
David Yates
War II, Morgan dropped
out of school and worked
in Malton building Lan-
caster bombers. At 17, he
enlisted in the 48th High-
landers of Canada, but
the war in Europe ended
before he saw overseas
service. However, the war
against Japan showed no
signs of ending soon, so
he volunteered for the
Royal Canadian Navy.
Morgan's association
with the RCN lasted until
May 2010 when he retired
as a. padre with the rank
of Lieutenant
Commander.
Immediately after the
war, Morgan served
briefly in the RCMP
before he became a
motorcycle constable
with the Toronto Police
Department. Morgan
remembers policing in
the days when the city
was called `Toronto the
Good.' Before radio
communications
became standard
police equipment, back
up was a call box that
had to be rung every
hour.
While Morgan was on
the police department, he
married his first wife,
Ethel. Together, they
raised seven children (6
boys, 1 girl). Their mar-
riage lasted 27 years
when Ethel died of
cancer.
He learned that the
justice system did not
treat everyone equal.
On one occasion, it
quickly became evident
that a motorist in a
Cadillac had crashed
his car because he was
drunk. At the subse-
quent trial, the motorist
pleaded guilty. The
judge, contrary to pro-
cedure in a guilty plea,
asked Constable Mor-
gan to give evidence
•
any way.
Despite the guilty plea,
the judge dismissed the
case anyway. Morgan
later learned that the
defendant was an 'impor-
tant' Toronto attorney
who was also an elder at
the Eaton's Church. Mor-
gan said, `I couldn't
charge anyone with
drunk driving again after
that.'
Morgan became a plain
clothes policeman. In
March 1952, a partner,
Detective Sergeant
Edmund Tong was shot
and killed by Steve
Suchan and Lennie Jack-
son.
ackson. They belonged to the
notorious Boyd Gang of
bank robbers.
Morgan witnessed one
of the last executions in
Canadian history.
.Although Jackson had not
fired a shot, he was
hanged with Suchan in
the Don Valley Jail in
December 1952. Accord-
ing to Morgan, Suchan
died quick, but Jackson,
who had a wooden leg,
did not die right away.
Jackson faced the added
indignity of being forced
to hobble on one leg to
the gallows (his wooden
leg was taken away from
him because he had
smuggled a file in it in an
earlier escape attempt).
Morgan remembered that
Jackson 'could hardly
stand' and his death was
not quick.
'It was terrible. I'll
never forget it,' said
Morgan still troubled by
the scene sixty years
later. Never a death
penalty supporter
before the hangings,
Morgan strongly
opposed it after.
The hanging convinced
Morgan that he 'was
doing the wrong thing'
and left the Toronto
Police Department to
study theology at the
Unity School of Ministry
in Kansas City, Missouri.
He earned a Ph. D. in the-
ology and deliberately
avoided denominational
labels because Morgan
said he wanted to 'get
away from religion and
into spirituality.'
Reverend Doctor Mor-
gan embarked on a
prison ministry where
he learned to 'see
humanity in the most
depraved criminal: He
met some of America's
most notorious mob-
sters and criminals and
ministered to death row
inmates at Kansas State
Penitentiary. In the
1970s, the Morgans
moved to Asbury Park,
New Jersey. He became
prison chaplain at Rah-
way State Prison.
Rev. Morgan helped
found the famed 'Scared
Straight' program at
Rahway State. It was a
radical and controver-
sial concept where hard-
ened criminals gave
youth offenders a taste
of prison life. Morgan,
with justifiable pride,
claims that 'of the 671
kids locked up, we only
lost one' in his time with
the program.
The `Scared Straight'
program was adopted in
many other states and
has become the subject of
movies, documentaries
and reality TV shows. In
the original `Scared
Straight' movie in 1978,
Morgan is cited in the
credits.
In the 1980's, Morgan
attempted to bring the
`Scared Straight' program
to Ontario but then Solic-
itor -General Roy McMur-
try spiked the concept
because of security
concerns.
In 1987, he returned to
Canada permanently,
and, in.1993, he moved
to his present home in
Benmiller. In 1995, he
married his second wife,
Paula, and started a
ministry called the All -
Faiths Pastoral Centre.
Following Jesus' exam-
ple, Morgan operates
without a church
building.
Rev. Morgan's is an
unconventional ministry.
He believes most people
`get hung up on religion
but forget about spiritual-
ity [...] You're a spiritual
being living in a physical
body and working in a
material world; accord-
ing to Morgan.
`We're all here for a
purpose; we have lessons
to learn' before `we're
called home.' One of
those lessons, Morgan
states, is living `without
judging others and that
included judging our-
selves; that's the hard
part. We're learners, not
sinners' says Morgan who
adds that `you choose
your life and decide how
to live it:
Morgan also does not
see anything incompati-
ble with his belief in
reincarnation and Chris-
tianity. The Resurrection
in the Easter story
proves it.
After a stroke in 2001,
Morgan was in a coma for
three weeks. He experi-
enced a near death expe-
rience where he was
briefly `taken home:
However, `the most
important thing' Morgan
said he learned `was com-
passionate love and
accepting everyone for
who they are.'
The loss of two chil-
dren taught him patience
and faith. Rev. Morgan
wrote several books and
performed countless
baptisms, funerals and
counseling to those in
need of spiritual advice.
On March 5, 2017, as his
wife, Rev. Paula Taylor -
Morgan said Chris Mor-
gan left his earthly body
like one who "discards
his clothing at the end of
the day" to embark on
his next journey.
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