At 95, "Mr. Kirkland" has no time to grow old

Chuck Morgan moves so fast, the years haven't caught up with him.

He sings, he dances, he dates. The dapper gentleman's social calendar would be the envy of any society matron. Friends call several weeks in advance to secure a dinner date.

"The other day when I came home, there were 13 calls on my answering machine that I had to return," Morgan said.

Although age has diminished his once 5-foot, 6-inch frame, his wit and devotion to community affairs are as keen as ever. The former newspaper publisher whose fingerprints are on dozens of Eastside civic ventures still strides through Kirkland every day, keeping an eye on city hall and a hand in numerous projects.

Baby boomers who say 50 is the new 30 could use Morgan as a role model.

He turns 95 today and appears to be setting the bar for active aging.

At a birthday party last week at the Kirkland Performance Center — which he helped found — more than 120 friends, business leaders, politicians and community activists watched as Morgan tangoed on stage with a sexy woman in a bright red dress.

He parasailed twice last month and plans to go hot-air ballooning this month. He's saving skydiving for his 100th birthday. The only rocker in his home is a decorative piece.

"I don't believe he's 95," said Tom Hitzroth, who knows Morgan through the Kirkland Heritage Society. "If I guessed, I would have put him at 65, maybe 68."

Morgan has helped shape Kirkland and the Eastside for more than six decades. He earned the nickname Mr. Kirkland because of his unabashed love for the town.

When he arrived in 1946 to work at a weekly paper, the population was 3,500. Within a year, he moved to the rival newspaper — the Eastside Journal — where he was guaranteed a share of the publication through sweat equity. Eventually, he bought out his two partners.

Morgan credits what happened next with his journalism training at the University of Michigan in the 1930s. One professor, Wesley Maurer, said local newspapers could build or tear down a community. Morgan chose to build.

He pushed, cajoled, wrote editorials and served on so many committees that he averaged 16-hour work days. He helped secure the location of Evergreen Point Floating Bridge and Interstate 405, campaigned for Bellevue Community College, the University of Washington campus in Bothell, Cascadia Community College and Evergreen Hospital Medical Center. He led drives for a clean city water supply, paved streets, a strong city-manager form of government and the merger of Houghton with Kirkland.

One of his former reporters, Karl Thunemann, said Morgan went to every event in town and always carried his camera even though he wasn't the best photographer on the staff.

In 1976, he sold the paper to John McClelland Jr., who created the Journal American by merging the Eastside Journal and the Bellevue American.

Morgan still belongs to the Kirkland Rotary Club and seldom misses a Monday night meeting. He attends Chamber of Commerce events (he served as president twice before professionals were hired to run the operation). He and Bill Woods of Kirkland joined forces to build the Kirkland Performance Center (KPC), which became a 10-year project. It opened in 1998.

"When Chuck and Bill retired from the board, we gave them a card that was good for tickets to any show here at the KPC," Steve Lerian said. "Worst bargain I ever made. Chuck attends more shows here than anyone."

Old-timers

When the KPC was still in the planning stages, Morgan had a four-way heart bypass. A week later he was dashing up the center's stairs to see what had been accomplished while he was recuperating.

Then there's the old-timers group that breakfasts together each month.

"You can tell they're old-timers because they don't like to meet until 8:30 a.m.," Morgan said. "That's too late. It cuts into the business day too much for me."

Local politicians and political hopefuls still consult him, seeking not only his advice but his blessing.

"I'm just a professional gadfly," Morgan said. "I like to be involved."

Earlier this year, he appeared in the Kirkland Performance Center's community theatrical production of "Fiddler on the Roof." Last year, it was "The Music Man." In a couple of months, he will begin rehearsing for his third season's appearance in the International Ballet's "The Nutcracker." Last summer, he traveled with the ballet company to Russia.

Morgan grew up on a small farm in Michigan. To earn his way through college in the 1930s , he worked multiple jobs, including selling silk stockings, cigarette lighters and his own blood.

He planned to be a civil engineer but switched to journalism when he failed a required course. After cutting his journalistic teeth in northern Michigan, he moved to Alaska. Adventures included a dog-sled trip as an embedded journalist with the U.S. Army that nearly ended in disaster when the group got lost and ran out of rations. He met Florence, the woman who would become his wife, while working part time at the U.S. Post Office.

Morgan served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and was assigned to the remote Alaskan island of Adak. He was called to Seattle when his 2-year-old son became critically ill and died.

Money scarce

His first newspaper job after the war was in Rosemead, Calif. He and Florence hated it. Through a friend, he heard about a job in Kirkland, interviewed over the telephone and was hired.

There were times when money was scarce. He remembers one year, after all the bills were paid, the Journal cleared 16 cents. Even when the paper was expanding, Morgan had to mortgage the company, his house and everything he and Florence owned to keep the new offset presses up to date and operating.

The gamble paid off.

When the paper was sold, they had enough money for retirement. They traveled. They downsized to an apartment and finally a condo, where Florence loved to sit and enjoy the view of Lake Washington. They enjoyed their two adult sons and their families.

Then Florence began showing signs of dementia. It broke his heart when he had to move his wife to a group home. She died in a convalescent center in 2004.

"I went there one night and held her hand and kissed her goodnight," he said. "They called me the next morning and said she had died."

They had been married 63 years. These days Morgan dates younger women — in their 70s. Older women, he said, can't keep up with him. And he doesn't like to listen to a litany of physical ailments, medical appointments and discuss what pills people take. He's had some health challenges in the past year but brushes them off as part of life.

His strong social network includes a cadre of people who like to think they're watching out for him. In truth, he encourages them to constantly improve, think and be the best they can.

He has both a computer and an old typewriter on his desk. He's mastering the computer by playing games. He carries a cellphone.

"I try to learn something new every day," he said.

He attributes his general good health to exercise and diet. He walks one to three miles a day, usually along Lake Washington Boulevard between Carillon Point and Marina Park.

"I've lived my dreams," he said. "I did my newspapering and had a wonderful marriage. But I'm not done yet. I'm having too much fun."

Sherry Grindeland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com