Mary Lynn Morgan was a trailblazer. Morgan, the wife of renowned Atlanta Constitution (now the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) editor Ralph McGill, graduated from dental school and began practicing dentistry in the 1940s when few women entered the profession. She was the first pediatric dentist in Georgia, helped found the Georgia Society of Dentistry for Children and was instrumental in establishing a pediatric dentistry program at Emory University.
Morgan, 95, died July 21 in Atlanta after a period of declining health.
Dona Yarbrough, Emory University senior associate dean and special assistant to the provost, called Morgan a “truly beloved member of the Emory community.
“She was incredibly humble, kind and sharp as a tack,” recalled Yarbrough, who met Morgan in 2008. “She had a passion for caring for children with special needs. She once told me that ‘the mouth is a sacred place,’ and understanding that helped her put frightened children at ease. She told wonderful stories about her dog Lucy, who she would bring to the office to snuggle with children while she worked on their teeth.”
Mary Lynn Morgan was born in Texarkana, Texas, on April 5, 1921 to Mac and Delena Morgan. She and her family later moved to Jacksonville, Florida. She received her undergraduate degree from Stetson University. Morgan came to Atlanta to attend the Atlanta-Southern Dental College, which later became the Emory University School of Dentistry, graduating in the class of 1943 as one of three women in her class. She did further study at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in Ann Arbor.
Morgan practiced dentistry until her retirement in the late 1970s. She served as president of the Georgia Society of Dentistry for Children in 1961. She also served as president of the dental fraternity Omicron Kappa Upsilon and was a member of the American College of Dentists and president of the Emory Dental Alumni in the early 1970s. She was a part-time faculty member of Emory’s School of Dentistry for 20 years.
Morgan was only the second woman to be elected an Emory trustee, serving on the Woodruff Scholarship Committee for nearly 18 years. She also served on the Honorary Degrees Committee and the Committee for Academic Affairs, becoming an emerta trustee in 1991. She received the Emory Medal of Honor from the Alumni Association in 1987. The Women’s Center at the University created the Mary Lynn Morgan Lecture Series in her honor, dedicated to women in the health professions.
Morgan served two terms as a vestry member and one as senior warden of All Saints Episcopal Church in Atlanta and sang in the choir for many years. She was a trustee of Hillside Hospital, an organization dedicated to serving children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral issues. .
Morgan married legendary newspaperman Ralph McGill in 1967.
Morgan’s niece, Anne Morgan, described how her aunt met McGill, saying, “Normally a shy and unassuming person, she had summoned up the courage to introduce herself to him on an airplane, telling him how much she admired his writing and commitment to the civil rights movement. He apparently was smitten with her, and she became his second wife.”
McGill died in 1969.
Kevin Riley, current editor of the AJC, was invited to meet Morgan in 2011 at the Buckhead retirement home where she lived, and he said in an article he wrote about the occasion that he “jumped at the chance.” He wrote that she shared memories of her late husband, including his controversial work to end segregation and bring about racial equality in the South.
Riley said in the article, “Morgan insisted that McGill was never bothered by vituperative criticism of his views, saying, ‘He never gave it a thought. I learned about those things from other people.’ ”
Morgan and Ralph McGill Jr. donated McGill’s books and papers to the Special Collections of the Emory Library.
In 1986, Morgan helped arrange an exhibit at Emory of paintings of civil rights leaders titled “Lest We Forget: Images of the Black Civil Rights Movement.” The paintings by artist Robert Templeton included icons of the civil rights movement, from Martin Luther King Jr. to Rosa Parks to Malcolm X as well as Ralph McGill.
Morgan is survived by three nieces, Kathryn Skoglund of Amherst, N. H.; Anne Morgan of Atlanta; and Elizabeth Graf of Carrollton, Ga.; and several grand and great-grand nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held on Thursday, Sept. 8, at 11 a.m. at All Saint Episcopal Church in Atlanta.
Contributions in Mary Lynn Morgan’s memory may be sent to Friends of Emory Music, Emory University, Office of Gift Records, or to the Mary Lynn Morgan Fund, The Center For Women at Emory University.
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