Coping with Grief
We would like to offer our sincere support to anyone coping with grief. Enter your email below for our complimentary daily grief messages. Messages run for up to one year and you can stop at any time. Your email will not be used for any other purpose.
Janet Lee Mahaffey Morgan
A celebration of life service for Janet Lee Mahaffey Morgan will be held at St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church, Nassau Bay, TX on July 15, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. with The Rev. Mike Stone officiating. Interment will take place at a later date.
Born July 9, 1937 in Corpus Christi, TX to Walter Monroe Mahaffey and Jennette McGee Mahaffey, Janet was younger sister to Jack Mahaffey (d. 2010) and big sister to Jo Ann Todd, whom she spoke with almost daily.
Janet died suddenly March 10, 2023 at Brookdale Senior Living in Webster, TX where she lived with her husband of almost 63 years, W. Craig Morgan. She took pride in her roles as daughter, sister, wife, mother and grandmother. These roles never defined her, but simply shaped her. Janet lived the last 16 years of her life with Parkinson’s Disease. Rising above this diagnosis with determination, grace, and dignity, she continued to lead a very active and full life until the end. Along with prudent medical care, her strong character and diligent commitment to exercise and nutrition contributed to slowing the progression of Parkinson’s symptoms.
Graduating from Neville High School in 1955, she then attended Louisiana Tech University joining Kappa Delta Sorority. In 1959 she graduated earning a BA in Elementary Education. Janet and Craig were friends from childhood, but only began dating after college. They married in June 1960 in Monroe, Louisiana. Together they raised their family in Monroe where she was active at Grace Episcopal Church, the Monroe Junior League, served on the board of the Ouachita Parish Public Library, and was very involved in her daughters’ activities. The family moved to Oconomowoc, WI in 1976 where Craig attended Nashotah House Seminary prior to being ordained an Episcopal Priest in Louisiana in 1979. Their subsequent years in Episcopal Church ministry took them to Lake Providence, and then Pineville (both in LA), and Cleveland, TN. Following Craig’s retirement in 2003, they chose to move to League City, TX, to be close to both daughters and their families.
Janet was a dedicated disciple of Jesus, writing, teaching, and sharing her faith journey with others. From 1984-1987 as Feature Editor for ALIVE! (a monthly publication of the Diocese of Western Louisiana) she wrote articles and contributed photographs. This position allowed her to travel as ‘press’ to report on various regional, national, and international church conferences. She was a 1986 graduate of the 4-year Education for Ministry (EFM) program and trained as an EFM mentor to lead small groups as they learned and explored their faith.
The way she spent her time revealed what she loved: family, friends, books, birds, games, needlework, writing, learning, and travel. She was a gracious hostess and gifted cook who entertained dignitaries, as well as family and friends. As a lifelong learner, she took various college classes in writing, swimming, computers, photography, Bible, and Spanish. As a Lifestory Writing Group participant and instructor at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLIE) in Galveston, from 2006-2016 she chronicled her life in close to 100 stories she wrote and shared with her family. Making intricate needlepoint Christmas stockings for each of her grandchildren demonstrated her skill at sewing and needlework. As an amateur photographer, she helped chronicle many aspects of her grandchildren’s lives. She took all her grandchildren on birding adventures to High Island, TX to see the bird sanctuaries and nesting areas. She began bird watching in Tennessee and kept a journal detailing which birds she saw annually and enjoyed participating in several of Galveston’s Featherfest events.
Janet had a servant’s heart and was a caregiver for both her mother and mother-in-law as they aged, providing compassionate daily care for her mother-in-law Louise Morgan, who lived nearby in the final years of her life. She was organized and detail-oriented, gifts used as a volunteer in the communities and churches where she lived. Janet was an active member of St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church in Nassau Bay, TX. The St. Thomas community, especially her Daughters’ of the King (DOK) sisters and Fr. Mike Stone, were anchors in her Texas life. Janet was active in several book clubs and supper-clubs. At Brookdale she participated daily in various mind enriching activities as well as exercise and water aerobics classes.
She is survived by her spouse of almost 63 years, The Rev. Walter Craig Morgan; and two daughters, Layne (David) Dearman of Galveston, TX, and Wyn Bomar of Houston, TX; sister, Jo Ann Todd of Collins, MS and sister Sharon (Lindy) Ballew of Little Elm, TX. She was “GranJan” to her five grandchildren, James (Amy) Dearman, A. Walker Dearman (Devin Cleary), Charlotte (Lane) Baker, Will Bomar, Kate (Jake) Bren and great-grandson, Jonah Dearman. Also, nieces and nephews, Doug Mahaffey, David Mahaffey, Audra Todd, Jim Todd, Tiffany Ochiltree, Chris Ochiltree along with additional cousins, relatives and numerous friends, near and far.
Many dear friends became like family over the years in each place they lived. In Texas, these include Jim and Hattie McKinley, Tully Dunlap and Massako Kutyna and many others from their church. The family thanks Brookdale Senior Living for their love and care. We are grateful to all who loved, cherished, and admired Janet just as much as her own family. May she be remembered wherever butterflies are seen and church hymns are heard and may her legacy be in each heart she has touched.
Memorials may be made to St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church, Nassau Bay (www.sttaec.org) or The Parkinson’s Foundation at (www.parkinson.org).
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Janet Lee (Mahaffey) Morgan, please visit our floral store.
St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church, Nassau Bay
18300 Upper Bay Road, Houston TX 77058
Web: http://www.sttaec.org
Parkinson's Foundation
200 SE 1st Street, Ste. 800, Miami FL 33131
Web: http://parkinson.org