Edna Haywood Morgan

Edna Haywood Morgan passed away peacefully at age 98 on January 5, 2022 in San Jose, California with members of her family at her side. She was born on New Year’s Eve 1923 in Ryan, Oklahoma to parents Eddie Lee Haywood and Bessie Hogue Haywood. Edna was a kind, compassionate, loving daughter, wife, and mother, and was immediately liked by anyone that ever met her. No person that ever met her ever had an unkind thing to say about her.

She was raised in the East Texas area near Kilgore, attending the New London School the year before the devastating 1937 explosion occurred, in which she lost two of her cousins. She was a graduate of Leverette’s Chapel High School, Class of 1942. During WWII she worked at the North American Aviation complex in Dallas, Texas, which was then producing B-24 Liberator bombers.

In 1946, Edna and her parents relocated from Texas to San Jose, California. She had an affinity towards office work, given her organizational skills, and for a time worked at a bank in Gilroy, California. She was hired to work in the personnel department at the Montgomery Wards store in downtown San Jose and was eventually promoted to manager.

Her life changed in early April 1951 when she met her future husband, William (Bill) A. Morgan Jr. at Club Lanai on Almaden Road. Bill, who hailed from Norfolk, Virginia, was a sailor stationed at NAS Moffett Field. The couple were quickly engaged and married on June 3, 1951, two months after they met. Theirs was a loving marriage that lasted 56 years, until Bill’s passing in 2006. Their marriage produced five children, each being born in different parts of the country since Bill’s naval career kept the family on the move. Edna gave her full support to her children and her husband’s career, joining and becoming a key member of the Navy Wives Club. Edna often had to care for her five children on her own while Bill was deployed overseas for months at a time. She was simply an incredible mother to her children.

The Morgan family returned to Santa Clara County in 1965, where Edna and Bill would spend the rest of their days. Edna and Bill loved belonging to the Silver Dollars Square Dance Club in Mountain View during much of the 1970’s. In 1977 they bought the first and only home they would ever own in San Jose, when Bill retired from the US Navy. They loved bowling together in league competitions, and watching local sports teams, (Giants, 49ers, Warriors, and Sharks) on television. Edna was an avid reader of novels all her life, habitually reading the local newspaper every day.

Edna was predeceased by her parents; husband Bill; and one daughter, Deborah Lynn. She is survived by daughters Sue Fetterman (Jack) and Penny Anderson; and her two sons, Ed (Nila) and Mike (Katherine). She is also survived by nine grandchildren; Edwin, Kris, Kim, Brian, Brandon, Justin, Christopher, Conor, and Lauren; and seven great-grandchildren.

Her family will miss her tremendously but take great solace in knowing that her final days were a joyous experience for her, as she hosted so many of them in her home for the holiday season, and she was rightfully surrounded by the love she so richly deserved.

Services will be held on Monday, January 17, in The Chapel of the Roses at Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose, commencing with a one hour viewing at 9:00 AM.