Photographer and researcher Rosa Morgan died Monday at age 90. She had been frail for the past several years but had been able to remain at home in Bellingham with the help of caregivers until shortly before she died.

Rosa was part of a partnership with her husband, historian Murray Morgan – one of those teams where the names were rarely mentioned alone. It was nearly always Murray and Rosa.

According to daughter Lane Morgan, Rosa was born two days before the end of World War I and first saw her future husband while she was playing the violin at age 14 in the Universalist Church in Tacoma. Murray was the young son of the minister, and he and Rosa married six years later in 1939. For a honeymoon, they went to Europe and kayaked down the Danube River.

It was her first time east of the Cascade Mountains, and it must have been a magical journey – until they were detained briefly in Romania after Germany invaded Poland. The authorities thought they were spies.

Rosa helped Murray research his books on history and culture and was his essential editor. She sometimes sat in on his graduate courses at Columbia University so he could work three jobs. She studied photography under Man Ray in New York and once photographed Diego Rivera from his scaffold while she and Murray lived in Mexico.

Their homes on Trout Lake and Harstene Island were centers of conversation and debate for many dinner guests over many years.

Murray Morgan died in 2000.

Rosa received a degree in English from the University of Washington and was a reference librarian at Pacific Lutheran University. She was active in Democratic politics, the peace movement and the League of Women Voters.

She insisted on voting for Barack Obama – in person at the polls – in November.

Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657

peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com

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