The February 2008 issue of the Theta Data had a few e-mails concerning the passing of Brother Morgan Shrader Class of 1954 at OWU. I am adding here a little history that I am familiar with about Morg that some should find interesting. Morg came to the campus in September 1950 from Waverly in Southern Ohio, the son of a well known Doctor from that area. Morg started in pre-med but found a better interest in Political Science. This played out in his life for many years. He also found an important link by his pledging to Theta of Beta Theta Pi in the group of 1950. Morg was a leader and valued Brother of the chapter, culminating in his Presidency in the last semester of his senior year of 1954.
With his commission in hand from the Air Force, thanks to the ROTC, his new life phase started. It so happened that we both reported to Sampson Air Base on September 1, 1954 for processing to flight school as members of Class 56A. Because the Korean War ended almost the same day, we were put on “casual status” while spaces in flying were eliminated.
We were both assigned to go to Sheppard Air Base in Texas for Intelligence School. At that point we went in different directions. He went to Europe with TAC and wrote to me later that he was in Nancy, France debriefing refugees of the Hungarian Uprising against the Russians. (They were trying to catch spy’s crossing over from Russia in the process.) I was in SAC and we were looking for info on potential targets in the Soviet Union and much was passed on to us from TAC for that use.
After his discharge, he went to Georgetown Univ Foreign Service School where he was recruited by the CIA for agent work. We were in contact from time to time, but he was on the move doing his job. Many years after leaving the CIA he filled me in on a few that were interesting. In 1960 he said he was sent to a base in Central America to help train and guide the Cuban forces that landed at the Bay Of Pigs in April 1961 to try to overthrow to Batista Regime. The operation was a failure of US policy and he said he left the beach and swam back out to boats that they came on to escape capture.
His life from that point evolved into a career that took him to Nairobi, Kenya where he met his lovely wife Priscilla and settled until returning to the US, where he followed a business life in corporate advertising in the Dallas area. After years of fighting cancer he retired and moved to New Mexico until his death. Morg was an authentic Patriot and proud American, a great friend and Beta Brother.
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