My Life
I’m Glenn L. Morgan. I was born in Arcadia, Florida (Pop. estimated 4,500 when I was growing up). It’s a small, rural town located about 40 miles north of Fort Myers. While Arcadia is known for hosting championship rodeos, for me, it was just home—a place filled with memories, family, friends, simple pleasures like sitting underneath shade trees.
As a kid, I enjoyed fishing along the banks of the Peace River, hunting, shooting marbles and swimming in creeks with my two best friends, LJ and Romp.
I was raised by my grandparents and a single mom, who worked as a cook in a segregated restaurant to provide for me, my two older sisters and older brother, and other relatives who lived with us from time to time. My dad died of a heat stroke when I was 5. My grandmother—“Momma”— ran the house. Momma knew her Bible and did not spare the rod. She cooked seven days a week and we ate good—fried chicken, smothered pork chops, neckbones, collard greens, cabbage, lima beans, macaroni and cheese, you get the idea. There was no pizza or McDonald’s. My grandfather taught me how to skin rabbits, squirrels and prepare turtles and other wild game—those were the foods he cooked.
On Sunday mornings, I walked to church. I put in 10 cents of the 15 cents that Momma gave me for offering. I kept 5 cents to buy treats from Ms. Tootie on the walk back home. On Sunday evenings, I helped my grandfather make “home brew” for himself and his friends to enjoy. My job was to dump cans of yeast into a huge pot and pour boxes of raisins into five-gallon jugs for the fermenting process. I enjoyed eating the raisins. I never thought about tasting home brew because it smelled awful.
As a teen, I worked in the hot groves and fields with my buddies for part of the summer picking oranges, grapefruit, melons, tomatoes, cucumbers. On good days, we each made $100 to $130, on other days, $50 to $70. I used my money to buy clothes during summer vacations with family in New Orleans, Virginia, New York City and other places that my mom would send me to experience city life. I had a fondness for fashion and even had a seamstress make some outfits for me to go with my Afro. You dig?
In high school, I was a basketball standout who earned the nickname “Sugar” because of the so-called sweet moves that I made on the court. Those moves earned me scholarships to college. I even played in the military after college (No.22).
After college, I served in the U.S. Army, where I spent three years in Germany. When I had time off from my military duties, I explored beautiful places. Living abroad was an adventure filled with many “firsts” for me. For example, I ate Chinese fried rice for the first time and loved it. While guarding the East-West Germany border, I encountered a giant rabbit that stood 4 feet tall on its hind legs. No one ever mentioned giant rabbits during basic training but they are real—and shocking. You can look up giant rabbits online. I also traveled throughout Germany including visiting the Olympic Stadium in Munich, which hosted the 1976 Games; as well as Sweden, where I went skiing for the first time; and Spain, where I went to a bullfight and visited the beaches, where topless was the norm. I played basketball overseas and was invited to try out for the All Army team, but decided it was time to go home.
I returned to Arcadia to figure out life. Along the way, I worked various jobs and started different businesses.
I met Valerie in 1982 while she was a journalist in Florida. She was covering a Prince concert in Lakeland and interviewed me. We dated, married after a year-long engagement, had two kids and wound up in Atlanta.
Life Highlights:
Birth of our son, Myles, 1986
Birth of our daughter, Mackenzie, 1988
Birth of our granddaughter, Luna, 2015
Survived Category 5 Hurricane Andrew, South Florida,1992, First Responder
Moved to Atlanta, October 1993
Launched On Common Ground News (print), April 1995
Freelance photographer, 1996 Olympics, Atlanta
Ordained a deacon, 1997
VIP seating at Coretta Scott King’s funeral, 2006, attended by four Presidents: George W. Bush, George H. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton at New Birth Birth Missionary Baptist Church
Transitioned OCG News from print to online, 2020, in the wake of COVID-19
Launched Bestlifeglenn.com, March 2023
