Kenneth E. Morgan

Ken went to be with the Lord on September 27, 2024. He was born in Taylor, PA to Kenneth and Jane (Evans) Morgan, on September 23, 1943. He was predeceased by his parents, his brother William (Bill) Morgan and his sister-in-law Judy Morgan, his sister Donita (Dona) Morgan Bloss and his grandson, Travis Morgan. Ken is survived by his children, Terry Morgan and Wendy (Morgan) Gamache (David) and his grandchildren, Taylor (Zachary), McKenzie (Micah), Zachary and Zoe along with many nieces and nephews.

As a young man, Ken moved to the Binghamton, NY area, and as the Vietnam War was going on, Ken joined the Army Reserves, where he talked fondly of his time as a mechanic. He was a troop away from going to Vietnam, but thankfully, never had to go. He continued in the Reserves until he was honorably discharged.

One of Ken’s first jobs in Binghamton was as a janitor at Singer Link in Hillcrest, NY. He continued to work there as a maintenance person, until he took a job with Union-Endicott Schools where he was a maintenance director. Because of Ken’s work ethic, his previous boss at Singer Link, recruited him to go back to work there as a maintenance supervisor. With the layoffs that happened in the Binghamton area in the late 80’s, Ken was part of those layoffs and after some time looking for a new challenge, Ken decided to work for Syracuse University in their maintenance department. His job the first couple of years there was to write an audit of every building on the SU campus for any future maintenance projects needed, then he oversaw every elevator on campus. After 9 years of driving back and forth from Binghamton to Syracuse, it was time for Ken to move to the Press & Sun Bulletin, again as a maintenance supervisor. After so many years in maintenance, it seemed like Ken could fix anything. He even created an invention that he was awarded a trip to Chicago for.

Ken’s mechanical background started with the love of cars while a teenager and it continued through his whole life. He would’ve loved to see his granddaughter, Zoe, in the upcoming show of Grease, because he was an original “greaser” in jeans, the white t-shirt and cigarettes rolled in his sleeve! Ken often reminisced about the cars he owned and worked on as a mechanic, especially his “Morg-van” that he created.

Ken was a devoted father as he raised Terry and Wendy as a single dad. Although not really a sports fan when they were young, he allowed all the neighborhood kids over to play every kind of sport, and continuously was a dad-taxi, not only for his kids, but the neighborhood kids as well. He seemed to never miss any games! Ken even was a ref when Wendy played soccer one year! He became more of a dad taxi when Wendy started playing travel softball, chauffeuring the girls from tournament to tournament, and then making the treks up to Buffalo to watch Wendy and the other girls from Binghamton play at Canisius College. He would eventually turn that support towards his grandchildren, trying to make it to most of their games, musicals and concerts.

After working at Syracuse University, Ken became a big SU sports fan which continued through the rest of his life. He also liked watching the NCAA Softball tournament every year. But Ken’s passion was all sorts of car racing, mostly NASCAR. He had the opportunity to go to Pocono Raceway twice, once for a race and recently he was able to finally celebrate his 80th birthday gift by taking 6 laps around the track, and he told the driver he should go faster!

Ken was a member of the Glen Castle Methodist Church for close to 50 years, where he served as treasurer and used his maintenance skills when needed. If you’ve driven by and seen the message sign, he was also the “sign guy".

The family will recieve friends at the Glen Castle United Methodist Church, 371 Castle Creek Road, Binghamton, NY 13901 on Saturday, October 19, 2024 from 10-11AM followed by a Funeral Service. Burial will be in the Glen Castle Cemetery.