Mary Janet Morgan

Mary Janet Morgan of Groesbeck passed away at Providence Hospital in Waco on Sunday, August 4, 2019, at age 82.

Graveside services will be held at 10:00 A.M. on Thursday, August 8, 2019 at Thornton Cemetery, with Chaplain Jon Honea officiating.

Janet was born March 1, 1937 to Chester Lee Goddard, Sr. and Bonnie Rutledge Goddard in Houston.   

In 1959, Janet was united in marriage with Norman Morgan, whom she had known while they both attended Jefferson Davis High School. He was in the U.S. Army and while they were living in West Virginia, their son Mark was born.  After they moved back to Houston, their daughter Tracey was born.  They were later divorced, but remained close and were good friends in later years.

Janet worked hard to take care of and support her children on her own, many times working for two or three different jobs at a time.   After they were grown, she drove a hot-shot truck for eleven years and travelled all over the county, from New York to Louisiana.   She did a lot of the work on her 78 Ford half-ton truck herself and drove over nine hundred thousand miles on the first engine.  She had a total of three engines put in the truck while hot-shot driving.

After health problems kept her from renewing her CDL, she worked at Herman Hospital in Houston, as a health care tech for over ten years.    She worked in the PICU, where she became real attached to the babies in her care and grieved for any that didn’t survive.   After she retired from Herman Hospital, she continued to work in various jobs until suffering a stroke.

Janet moved back to Groesbeck while she was still living independently but to be closer to daughter Tracey.   She loved her fur-babies and her plants, which she continued to enjoy just looking at and tending to even after moving into the home with Tracey in 2012.  Her children saw to her healthcare and she rode the transit bus to Marlin for dialysis for many years, exceeding the doctor’s life expectancy for more than five years.

Her son Mark was her caregiver the last two years, driving over from Teague daily for one year and then moving here to take care of her the last year.    Mark and Tracey knew her to be an awesome Mom and an awesome lady who made friends everywhere, especially at Walmart with the pharmacist and plant saleslady.

Janet was preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Chester Lee Goddard, Jr; former husband, Norman Morgan; son-in-law, Tootie Howell; and grandchild, Brianna Buck.

She is survived by daughter, Tracey Howell and her special friend, Spencer Price of Groesbeck; son, Mark Morgan and his wife Becky of Groesbeck; brother Bobby J. Goddard and wife Margie of Farmington, NM; grandchildren and their spouses:  Joshua and Debbie Little of Big Springs, Jessica and Preston Garlick of Colorado, Kristi Upton of Mart, Tori and Brian Armstrong of Beaumont, Jason Howell of Waco, Michelle and Adrian Gilliard of Waco, Terry Buck and wife Kyndra of Riesel, and James Easton of West Virginia; twenty-six great grandchildren; and one great-great grandchild “on the way.”

Tracey and Mark want to express their special appreciation to the nurses at Providence ICU for their care of their mother; they were so gentle, caring, loving and concerned and were absolutely awesome.