'A Slice of My Life'

Bryan Morgan tries to push it -- "because I know I have to."

It's been a trend throughout his life that spans Oklahoma, California, Arizona and Arkansas, plus a few places in between. The award-winning speed walker just published his first book and has a couple of others in the works. He just keeps pushing it.

As a child, a ruptured eardrum kept Morgan from participating in sports activities that most children enjoy. In 1965, an opportunity presented itself to Morgan and his family. A doctor said there was a new microsurgery that had a 95 percent success rate. Morgan had the surgery and was finally able to do all the things he wanted to without limitations.

Currently, Morgan's life is a busy schedule of training for speed walking competitions with the Senior Olympics, working on two fiction novels and selling his first book, "A Slice of My Life," with profits going to charity. Proceeds from the poetry-based book go toward helping the Siloam Springs Senior Activity Center and Morgan's church -- Assembly of God.

Morgan's book is divided into three sections: religious, serious and humorous. On the cover, Morgan is pictured under an arch which was created the year he was born.

"I started to put this together for my kids," Morgan said. "As it progressed, I wanted to be able to use the book to further God's work."

While the book cannot be found in bookstores, Morgan sells his book at the senior center and wherever he goes. He plans more sales events later in 2015 including donating book proceeds to Hunger and Thirst Ministry.

"I plan to use this book to help any charitable organization that I can," he said. "I did not publish it to get any financial gain. It carries the seeds of salvation and if I can help someone with it -- I'd be glad to do it."

Morgan also is in the process of writing two fiction novels. One is about a Los Angeles couple trying to leave the gang lifestyle behind by moving away. The novel follows the couple's progression including how their outlook on life changes for the positive. His second novel, set in Colorado, follows a young prospector who finds his eureka.

This isn't Morgan's first foray writing about prospectors. In "Slice" he wrote about a man who was seeking gold, but instead found his eureka by settling in a pleasant environment in his older age. Currently, more than 100 copies of "Slice" have been sold to family, friends and community members.

Keeping a healthy mind is just part of Morgan's regime. He competes in the Senior Olympic Games in the speed walking category. In 2012, he received the gold medal for the 200, 400 and 800 meter speed walking competition. Recently, in 2014, he took the gold medal in the 800 meter speed walking category and the silver medal in the 200 and 400 meter.

"I started walking regularly when I moved here in 1977," Morgan said. "I worked nights and walked in the morning after work before I went to bed. It became a regular thing."

A sharp contrast to the young man who was not able to do a lot of physical activities, Morgan trains almost every day. His parents were Oklahoma farmers and from daylight to dark they worked hard.

"It was major exercise every day," he said. "I try to keep that in my head all the time with exercise. Dad lived until he was 95. Mom lived in Reno, Nev., and I would visit her with my brother every year. Four days before she turned 102 she passed away."

Morgan's life has carried him from Oklahoma -- where times were tough and it was hard for his family to make a living -- to California.

"My father worked for Texaco and my mom ran a café and was a homemaker," he said. "During World War II, my father worked in shipping and supplies that went out to the men."

Morgan's mother became ill from tuberculosis and spent a year in a sanatorium. When she was released, the family moved to Prescott, Ariz. Morgan later attended college at Riverside, Calif., then attended John Brown University. He spent 15 years working in the aerospace field where he worked on building instruments for the first smart bombs as well as doing work for NASA. Morgan then spent 10 years working with Gates Rubber and 12 years with DaySpring until 2002. Both companies are in Siloam Springs.

Now retired, Morgan is a member of Siloam Springs Regional Hospital's Senior Circle Chapter, the Siloam Springs Senior Activity Center and Assembly of God Church in Siloam Springs. He spends his time writing, walking and working on his home. "When I'm working with the sales of the book -- I'm there so it takes up a lot of my time," he said. "To my fellow seniors: Keep doing what you can physically. Exercise is a major factor in health."

Aimee Morrell is Siloam Springs Regional Hospital Senior Circle Advisor