JACKSONVILLE  -  Katherine "Kathy" Cannon Morgan died peacefully at home on February 23, 2024 surrounded by her children, with her beloved dog Kyrie on her lap and her best friend holding her hand. Memorial services will be held at 3:00 PM on Monday February 26 at St. Anne's Episcopal Church.

Kathy was born on September 30, 1944 in Kittery, Maine, where her father served at the Portsmouth Naval Yard. After several postings, the family settled in Charleston—a place that Cannons had lived for several generations and that truly became her hometown. Despite being born in New England, she was a southern girl at heart. Kathy believed in the art of a well-crafted thank you note, the power of sitting a spell on a screen porch, and the magic of hours spent on the beach in search of the perfect shell.

Kathy graduated from The High School of Charleston in 1962, where she displayed the characteristics that would become her hallmark; dedication to service, academic prowess, biting wit, and loving devotion to her friends. She pursued cheerleading, beach parties, and modeling at a local dress shop as relentlessly as the position of class valedictorian and the Miss Hi Miss scholarship for service, leadership, and character. It was a combination that attracted many to Kathy and joyfully lives on in her children and grandchildren.

Kathy attended St. Mary's College, in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she forged friendships that would last a lifetime. She was class Vice President as well as a member of the all-female musical group The Cold Cuts, performing at parties around the Triangle. She went on to receive her Bachelors in Math Education in 1966 and a Master of Science in 1968 from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority, the Order of The Old Beanbirds, and Senior Class Treasurer. As in high school, she seamlessly combined the worlds of studiousness and fun, summing it up quite nicely in her senior yearbook quote, "Who mixes reason with pleasure and wisdom with mirth?"

She had no more consequential accomplishment at Carolina than meeting her best friend, love of her life, and father of her three children, Billy Joe Morgan. They were married in Charleston in 1968 and spent the next 54 years together building an enduring and beautiful partnership. Kathy professed her love for her departed husband until the end.

Kathy was a born teacher—as a member of the Future Teachers of America at Charleston High, she knew it would be her life's work. She taught math at Sandhills Community College in Southern Pines, North Carolina, and later, after moving in 1971 to Billy Joe's hometown of Jacksonville, North Carolina, at Coastal Carolina Community College until retiring in 2004. Kathy tutored countless friends and family members in math, several of whom acknowledge they would not have graduated without Mrs. Morgan's help. Twenty years after retirement she still had a bookcase full of math textbooks—just in case a grandchild needed help with algebra, geometry, or calculus.

Kathy was preceded in death by her parents, Dr. Albert and Mrs. Mary Josephine Cannon, and her husband Billy Joe Morgan. She is survived by her children Cannon Morgan, Elise Morgan Whitley (Cameron), and Annie Morgan (Julie Weckstein); and grandchildren Katherine Perry Morgan, William Morgan, Milo Whitley, Abigail Pierce, and Wren Whitley, each of whom exemplify her progressive values, deep sense of humor, love of the ocean, and unshakable loyalty to friends and family. She is survived by her sisters, Helen Brandenburg, Jeanne King (John), and Josephine Cannon; her niece Mary Tarbell Brandenburg and her children, nephew Jack King (Paige) and his children; nephew Drummond Brandenburg; and niece Sophie Cannon; as well as her sister-in-law Ann Anderson; niece and godchild Lindsay Anderson Sablosky and her children; and nephew Brent Anderson (Melissa) and his children. She will be missed deeply by Kyrie, her good boy.

The family is eternally grateful for the care and grace provided by her loving caregivers—Wanda, Andrea, Marviet, Renee, Susan, Jessica, and Debra; and the compassionate and dignified care provided to her by Lower Cape Fear Life Care.

Memorials can be made to St. Anne's Episcopal Church, Attn: The Unseen Guest Ministry, 711 Henderson Drive, Jacksonville, NC 28540.