Welcome to Arline P. Morgan's Room

Where did you get that hat? Where did you get that tile?
Isn't it a nobby one, and just the proper style?
I should like to have one just the same as that!
Where'er I go they shout! "Hello! Where did you get that hat?"

- Joseph J. Sullivan -

Special Note: My aunt wants me to remind you that this home on the web is not our physical house in Fort Worth, Texas where we all reside. It is instead a graphical mechanism to introduce you to various aspects of our life. Paul says I should call it my fantasy house.

My Aunt Arline is usually busy! Here she is at her Classic Singer! [circa 1910]

My Aunt Arline was born in the midwest, the youngest of the four Morgan children. From left to right in the photograph below we find Warren (my father), Harold, Bernice, and Arline.

Warren and Bernice (at about the age shown in the picture) were visiting one day at Aunt Tilly's house. She was making Jello. After mixing up a batch, she took it out to the back porch to cool by placing it on a narrow plank of wood on top of the rain barrel. She added a bit of whipped cream to the top of the Jello. Warren and Bernice hid the bowl of jello and the wooden plank but placed a little dab of the whipped cream on top of the water in the rain barrel. The anticipated reaction took place to the merriment of those two pranksters. An hour or so later, there was Aunt Tilly, sleve rolled up as high as possible, with her arm deep into the water, reaching to the bottom, attempting to locate her bowl of Jello which she thought had fallen into the rain barrel.

Warren had also apparently been fascinated by one of those silent serials whose leading character was the Shielding Shadow. For months thereafter, he became the Shielding Shadow with a towel as his cape, performing daring feats inclusive of jumping off roofs.

My Aunt Bernice, Arline's sister, was a successful writer of children's books. Her 1949 book entitled Fancy Free was dedicated thusly: "To my nephew, John Swiney Morgan, Someday we'll go to Mexico." I was only ten years old at the time but when I grew to be a teenager I asked her when she was going to take me to Mexico. She replied: "John, you got it all wrong. I thought someday you would grow up to be a rich doctor and you would take me to Mexico."
My Uncle Harold had a very messy backyard. One day to the surprise of everyone he cleaned it up. He failed, however, to remove an old tree stump which had many, many gnarled branches going every which way. When he pointed with pride to his yard visitors would say: "But Harold, you failed to remove that old tree stump." He would reply: "That is not a tree stump it is a piece of modern sculpture." Then they would inquire: "What does it represent?" He would respond: "It is a sculpture of Eleanor Roosevelt flying off from LaGuardia airport in all directions at the same time."
My paternal grandparents were very responsible parents; however, one occasion, they needed to be out of town for the weekend. My father, Warren, who was a high school senior, was left to supervise my Aunt Arline, who was then a high school freshman. Well, my father went to a party and came home very tipsy. His little sister thought his behavior very strange indeed because he was talking incomprehensibly and weaving from side to side as he walked. She was very worried. She immediately called the Town Doctor. [In those days physicians made house calls.] He arrived in his carriage and examined Warren. Arline inquired, "What is wrong with my brother?" "He is drunk", replied the Doctor. "OH! No! Please don’t tell our parents", implored Arline. The doctor neither told nor sent a bill.
In the 1950s my Aunt Arline was working in one of the huge temporary buildings erected by the federal government for the war department in Washington D.C. It was two stories high and must have held ten thousand employees. One day they had a fire drill; the federal employees filed out by the thousands on to the parking lot. My Aunt was one of the first to exit. At about the same time a few tourist busses from out of town pulled into the parking lot. As the tourists departed the bus they met Arline and inquired: "Who are all these people?" To which my witty Aunt replied: "They are your reception committee."

Here is a photo of Arline taken at her apartment when she lived in our nation's capitol:

Here is another taken during her years in Washington:

Arline is known in Fort Worth as the hat lady because of the grand and beautiful selection of headgear that she frequently wears. Below is a photo taken at her retirement party.

Arline retired after thirty years of service for the Federal Government in the area of Personnel Management. Most of those years were served in the Nations Capital.

Arline is a world traveler. The countries she has visited include France, Germany, Turkey, Russia, Italy, England, Scotland, Spain, Portugal, Canada, and her favorite which is Greece.

Below is a more recent picture of Arline.

Here is a picture of my aunt at the Zoo in mid September of 1999. She and I drove electric carts!

Here is one on a bench in front of the zoo on that same day.

Arline maintained a home office with a state of the art computer:

My Aunt's other hobbies include sewing and collecting shells, rocks, and spools.

She is a member of Arlington Heights Methodist Church, a few blocks away, and has many friends there. Arline moved to Texas in June of 1995.

In July of 2001 Arline turned ninety years of age. She celebrated her birthday in October by throwing a party in Washington D.C. [October is cooler than July in the District of Columbia.] Most of the 45 or so invited were in attendance.

In November of 2001 Arline suffered a short but severe illness. On December 18 she died in the Osteopathic Hospital of Fort Worth after two brief seizures. A memorial was held on Saturday, December 22 at Arlington Heights Methodist Church and her ashes are in repose in the columbarium of the Chapel of The Angels at All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort Worth.