TAMA- Rev. Charlie Morrow, age 68, of Tama, died Sunday, October 22, 2006 at his home under the care of Iowa River Hospice from pulmonary fibrosis. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, October 26, 2006 at 10:30 AM at Living Faith United Methodist Church in Tama with Pastor Jerry Avise-Rouse, officiating. Private family interment will be at a later date. Visitation will be on Wednesday, October 25 at the Kruse-Phillips Funeral Home in Tama from 4 to 7 PM.
Charlie was born on February 4, 1938 in Pampa, Texas, the son of J.B. and Virginia (Tindale) Morrow. He received a BA in journalism from Baylor University in 1960 and immediately joined the US Air Force as a commissioned officer. Prior to his retirement in 1980, he attained the grade of major.
While in uniform, Charlie served along the frontier of North America at radar sites and command posts from Alaska, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Iceland. He became operational advisor and staff officer for defensive and tactical use of radar systems and networks. In that capacity he linked land-based and sea-borne air defense systems in the Mediterranean and wrote procedures for use throughout the North Atlantic Ocean. As a NATO staff officer he coordinated training and combat readiness of the radar systems of the Mediterranean countries of Italy, Greece, and Turkey. He also negotiated the international agreements that linked the allied air defense networks with those of France and Iran. Though in the US Air Force throughout the Vietnam Era, his uniform was decorated with only a few service medals and no medals for courage or bravery. He did not see combat, and for that he was grateful.
During his assignment to Naples, Italy, Charlie met Bonnie Murphy of Winterset, Iowa, who was a nurse at a nearby navy hospital. They met in the spring of 1969 and were married in Basel, Switzerland on November 11 of that year.
Following his retirement from the Air Force Charlie received his seminary training through the prescribed Course of Study at St. Paul's School of Theology. He was ordained in the Iowa Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church in June 1991. Throughout his ministry he served the Iowa congregations of Winterset UM, Winterset UCC (interim), Peru, Truro, Macksburg, Wesley Chapel, Hebron, Lewis, and Chelsea. He also established Iowa's Ministry of Presence Among the Meskwaki People, and served as its minister for seven years before retiring from active ministry. In that latter capacity he served many regional and national boards, agencies, and task forces concerning United Methodist Indian ministries.
After 20 years of military service and 18 years of ministerial service, Charlie turned to civic service. He was elected as Councilman to the City of Tama, and served on many community committees and boards – the STC Food Pantry and the Kid's Corner Day Care among others.
He was preceded in death by his parents.