Morgan honored as VFW outstanding member of the year

Photos: Tracy Hornaday
Fifth grade teacher Carmen Morgan was recently honored as the VFW T.K. Memorial Post 10009 outstanding service member of the year for her work with the recognition of Tuscola service members with the Tuscola Serves signs.

By Kendra Hennis 
Carmen Morgan, fifth grade history teacher at East Prairie Middle School in Tuscola, was recently honored as the Tuscola VFW T.K. Martin Memorial Post 10009 outstanding member of the year. Post leader Sean Connour explained that every year the members of our Post nominate an outstanding member of the community. The members look for those that have done excellent meritorious services that promote the values and ideals of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. This year the members selected Mrs. Carmen Morgan for this prestigious honor. Mrs. Morgan has been assisting military units by adopting them with her sixth grade class. She is a proud mother of a servicemember herself, and the work in her classroom of teaching Patriotism has overflowed into the community. In Spring of 2020, Mrs. Morgan approached the T.K. Martin Memorial Post 10009 in Tuscola with an idea to help honor and recognize Tuscola graduates and/or residents that are currently serving in the Armed Forces. Tuscola has had signs up before on Main Street, but there was no program in place at the time to keep track of who was still serving, and those that had been discharged. Plus, the upkeep and maintenance for those signs was lacking. Mrs. Morgan suggested a display for signs, in one location, in front of Ervin Park in Tuscola. From the very beginning, our Post was on board. Mrs. Morgan reached out to numerous other organizations throughout Tuscola, attended City Council meetings, planned, and organized this whole venture from word go. Without her hard work and dedication to this project, it would not have happened. Carmen has implemented a program that will be sustainable for years to come, so that we will be able to show our current servicemembers how proud we are of them, as a community. Carmen has also worked closely with the City of Tuscola to help gather the information on current servicemembers through the City’s website. For these reasons, and her love for our Country and our Veterans, we were humbled to present her with the Commendation Medal and certificate. 

If anyone is interested in displaying a sign for a service member, they can find the Tuscola Serves application on the City of Tuscola website.