David Leon Morgan

David Leon Morgan, of Zionsville, Indiana, passed away on Saturday, December 18, 2021 at Williamson County Medical Center, Franklin, Tennessee, at 83 years of age. David was born in Decatur, Illinois, on Friday, November 18, 1938. While he was still young, his family moved to Indiana, where he attended and eventually graduated from Speedway High School in 1956.  While at Speedway, he participated in Basketball, Baseball, and school plays.  He was the starting pitcher on the 1956 Speedway HS Baseball team that won a high school championship. In addition to pitching, he was an excellent hitter, batting .500 that year. In fact, he was such a talent that the Chicago White Sox scouted him as a pitcher, but he ultimately chose to pass on professional baseball in favor educational pursuits.  In his spare time in Speedway, he worked with his father, Albertus ‘Bert’ Morgan, at his father’s used car business and attended numerous automobile auctions. Between obtaining his driver’s license and graduation from High School, David purchased, restored and sold 18 automobiles.  He and his father even drove several of his restored vehicles down Route 66 to California where he would sell them and make sufficient profit to justify the expense of procuring transportation to return home. David attended Anderson College (in the School of Theology and Christian Ministry) for at least one semester where he sang with the glee club. David also attended Purdue University for a semester, followed by GMI (the General Motors Institute of Technology) in Detroit. Ultimately, he was offered a position at the Indiana University School of Dentistry, graduating as a Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) in 1964.  He followed this with a Certificate in Pedodontics (Pediatric Dentistry) from Riley Hospital in 1966.  Along the way, he met and married Jeralyn Clydene Barker, who gave birth to their two sons, Scott and Kip. While attending Dental School, David supported himself and his new family with various jobs, which included cleaning the bottom of the Broad Ripple swimming pool.  While in the Pedodontic Residency program, he purchased a dental practice and began his long-term practice of Pediatric Dentistry in 1965, continuing to practice in the Indianapolis area until 2018 (53 years).  He loved the practice of dentistry and would reminisce in his later years that his appreciation of his experiences as a dentist changed as he got older, saying that it “became more about the relationships that you build with the people that you care for”.

Dave was gentle and kind. He was blessed with a loving spirit which was evident in the manner with which he treated people.  The things he most enjoyed included meeting and conversing with people, boating and water skiing (Lake Monroe), golf, tennis (Carmel Racquet Club), cars (many of them, including a 2009 Shelby GT500 Mustang), motorcycles, Colts games, and, especially, watching the Pacers.  Dave loved to sing.  When his mother was in the nursing home with Alzheimer’s Disease, he decided to record himself singing songs she would remember from her earlier life in the hope that she would remain more engaged and feel comforted.  In so doing, he also realized his dream of becoming a recording artist.  With the help of his friends, Tony Zeller and Dave Lowe, he recorded two CDs of his favorite songs of Christmas and songs by Gershwin.  David recorded these songs under the pseudonym of George J. McGillicutty, which harkened back to a running joke between him and his mother growing up.  Whenever his mother discovered that something odd or mischievous had happened around the house, she would confront David who would promptly blame it on an imaginary persona, George J. McGillicutty.  Perhaps, he thought it was better to blame “George” than his little sister, who was 6 years younger (but little did he know that his sister would grow up to marry a fellow named George).  As an adult, he loved his vacations in Vero Beach with sister and her family.  He went on 2 memorable trips with his son (Kip) and grandsons (Asher and Judah), one to Cape Kennedy for a Space Shuttle launch (STS-126) and another as a big walk-about through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and the Badlands of South Dakota.  He was particularly generous in sharing his wisdom and experience regarding the practice of dentistry with his son, Scott, who eventually joined him in his dental practice in 2002.  Among all of his various achievements, he also managed to obtain 2 U.S. Patents (primary) and 4 (secondary) International Patents in Canada, France, Germany and the U.K. for an invention related to dentistry.   David was remarkably resilient and faced all of the challenges that life threw at him with an incredibly positive attitude.  While he walked this earth, he provided his family and friends with a great example how one should treat others. David Morgan will be greatly missed by those who had the honor of knowing and loving him. May God grant him peace as he now rests with our Lord in heaven.

The eldest (and only) son of the late Albertus Leon Morgan and Alma Mae Kinsey (Waymire, Morgan), he is survived by his sons David Scott (Kelly) Morgan, Zionsville; and Darin Kip (Maria) Morgan, Spokane, WA; step-daughter Cyndie (Bill) Linnemeier (Appleman), West Lafayette; sister Linda O’Malley (Morgan) and George O’Malley, Vero Beach, FL; 11 grandchildren, Asher, Christopher, Judah, Abigail, Zebulun, Dara, Levi, Reuben, Daniella, Dylan and Rebekah.  He is also survived by his niece, Kristen Hughes (O’Malley) and Chad Hughes with their children Tyler, Dylan and Kaiden, Vero Beach, FL.  His nephew, Sean Michael O’Malley, preceded Dave in passing.

A Memorial Service will be held at A.R.N. Funeral and Cremation Services, 11411 N Michigan Rd, Zionsville, on Sunday January 16th at 3 PM.  Friends are welcome, and encouraged, to come and visit with the family from 1 PM until the time of the service.