Ronnie Preston Morgan

He was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1939, was raised in Odessa, Texas, and attended New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, N.M. Mr. Morgan received his higher education at University of California-Berkeley, Stanford University and California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, Calif.

Mr. Morgan’s professional career began as an astronomer with contributions to Lowell Observatory and the development of the telescope used to map the moon for the Apollo Project.

He was also the founder and director of the Consortium Antiquum – a medieval musical group located in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also was involved with the early days of the Society for Creative Anachronism, becoming an active member at the second tournament held in Berkeley, Calif., and was awarded the first Order of the Laurel by this group.

Mr. Morgan met his wife, Loretta, while teaching the Dale Carnegie Human Relations Course in Oxnard, Calif. Later, he received a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities and the National Park Service to conduct a multi-year historical and photographic study of the Channel Islands located off the coast of southern California, with the results being housed at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in California.

He then spent nearly 10 years working in California, serving on historic preservation commissions and art commissions for the City of San Buenaventura, California. Mr. Morgan served on the Lowell Board of Advisors while living in California and for a period of time after moving to Flagstaff. When he moved to Flagstaff in 1989, he was first employed as the general manager of the Doney Park Water and worked for the past 14 years as the Water Rights Hydrologist for The Hopi Tribe.

He was associated with Ventura County Bicycle Club, California Land Surveyors Association, American Water Works Association, Arizona Hydrological Society, Arizona Public Land Surveyors, Water Environmental Federation, Arizona Geographical Information Council, Arizona Water and Pollution Control Association, Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, National Rural Water Association, Coconino County Gem and Mineral Society, Coconino County Astronomers, Society for Creative Anachronism, Rotary Clubs International, and Ventura County Astronomical Society.

Mr. Morgan is survived by his wife, Loretta.

Memorial services were previously held at Norvel Owens Mortuary.

Obituary published in Arizona Daily Sun - 25 Jul 2003.

Interment will be at noon, on October 6th, 2025 at Mariposa Memorial Gardens.