Badge of Honour for Life of Service

“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

The well-known verse from Proverbs 22:6 is the testament of the life of Dr. Noel Delrio Morgan, a 2024 recipient of the Badge of Honour for Meritorious Service.

From humble beginnings as one of 12 children of rural St. Andrew farmers, Aston and Cyntilena Morgan, he was raised in a Christian home with parents who exemplified community and care for others.

Their example would follow him to Kingston when he moved there in the early 70s to attend the Kingston Technical High School and join the then Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) at Berwick Road.

“The church was involved in a number of community projects. In fact, all of our activities centred around helping folks in the community [through] missions, different community projects, and so I grew up with this spirit and understanding,” Dr. Morgan shares with JIS News.

“In fact, my parents, in the early days in the country, were always going out to people in the community providing meals, visiting the sick, assisting at funerals. So, that is what I knew my parents to be and when I got into Kingston that followed me to the church-related activities, and I became very involved in the different activities in the community,” he continues.

This foundation allowed him to become a bedrock in the church as it transitioned to the now Macedonia Seventh-day Adventist Church on Maxfield Avenue, where he served as First Elder, providing services to the communities in the Kingston 13 area.

Executive Secretary of the East Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Pastor Melvin Francis, who, as a former pastor of the Macedonia District of SDA churches, worked alongside Dr. Morgan, describes him as a “change agent” who built rapport between the community and church.

“His support for the community included sports. He would organise matches between community teams and church teams… and would work extensively with senior citizens. He would assist with getting medical supplies for them, transporting them to medical facilities, assisting with funeral arrangements when they died, preaching at the funerals, and he would also help persons with disabilities by providing them with financial assistance,” he tells JIS News.

He says that Dr. Morgan is affable, a consummate professional and a family man who loves his God and the people he works with, and these traits, he believes, have endeared him to the Maxfield communities to this day.

“Think of the generations he would have impacted and how many lives he would have touched, and that is not any simple feat. People nowadays are not committed to anything really and Dr. Morgan has been committed to his God, to his church, to the people for over 50 years, serving with distinction. I believe that that is something praiseworthy,” Pastor Francis says.

As “iron sharpens iron”, Dr. Morgan surrounded himself with like-minded persons, chief of them being his late wife, Dr. Karen Morgan. Together, they formed a partnership based on faith in God and giving back to their community.

Of his late wife, Dr. Morgan says, “One of the best things to have happened to me in life is to have been married to Karen Morgan. Through thick and thin, she has been one of my most important motivators. A lot of what I have become is because of the unique partnership I had with Karen and the way we raised our family.”

The couple have three adult daughters raised on the same principle of community.

While the late Dr. Karen Morgan served as the principal for the church’s afterschool programme, her husband helped with providing computers for students to use in preparation for exams, assisted with sponsoring students through school and hosted several training sessions and workshops to prepare persons for the world of work.

Through their efforts, not only did students from the Maxfield community pass their school-leaving examinations at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, but several individuals became gainfully employed, thus reducing the number of unattached youth in the area.

As a chartered accountant, Dr. Morgan worked with private and public-sector companies, which allowed him to contribute his knowledge and skills on a national and international level.

While at the Jamaica Commodity Trading Company from the late 80s to mid-90s, he represented the Government of Jamaica in meetings with the negotiating teams from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, World Food Programme and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

For the past 25 years, Dr. Morgan has applied his skills to the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, in the areas of finance and education as Divisional Manager, Accounting; Acting Deputy Campus Bursar; and Adjunct Lecturer, Mona School of Business Management.

During this time, Dr. Morgan was integral in the UWI’s full acquisition of NewsTalk 93FM, the reconciliation of financial records and the implementation of the Banner Financial Administrative System, which coordinated the university’s financial records allowing for easier management and reporting across all areas of the institution.

This led to him representing the university at world conferences, presenting on the Banner financial system in the United States of America, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, India, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.

UWI Global Campus Registrar, Althea Gordon, who has worked with Dr. Morgan since 1999 in various capacities and on multiple programmes, including implementation of the Banner system, says he has been both reliable and willing to impart his knowledge to others.

“He was someone that I relied heavily on as it relates to managing the finances of the [university] and even my own personal financial matters as well. He taught me a lot that I know about budgeting. I am not an accounting person but he was able to explain all of it to me. Many persons at [UWI] Mona outside of the Bursary can tell you that it is Noel who held their hands through a number of things. He is one of the most approachable persons,” Ms. Gordon tells JIS News.

“I remember each time there was a tragedy within the Bursary team, if somebody passed [away] or something happened, it was Noel who did the grief counselling for the staff and did sessions with them. If we in the Registry needed somebody to have that kind of talk, it was Noel that we were dependent on,” she continues.

Dr. Morgan continuously gave of his time and resources to others while preparing to defend his doctoral dissertation in 2019 and served as an executive on numerous committees for the Jamaica Union of Seventh-day Adventists and the East Jamaica Conference, including the Master Guide club.

He also served on committees for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica, Mona Administrative Staff Association, and the West Indies Group of University Teachers.

Added to that, his work in ministry saw him preaching and teaching islandwide and overseas.

Dr. Morgan says he is driven by his love for God and the good counsel and great family he has been blessed with and sees giving back to others as part of lifelong development.

“For me, it was about doing the best that I can professionally and for my country. I was really doing the job that I was asked to do and to the best of my ability,” Dr. Morgan explains.
He currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of the UWI Global Campus and the UWI International School for Development Justice.

Dr. Morgan will be awarded the Badge of Honour for Meritorious Service for outstanding contribution to community development, education and the public sector on National Heroes Day, October 21.

He recalls being notified of the award on what would have been his 40th wedding anniversary in August and his immediate thoughts and feelings.

“When I got the news the first thing that came to my mind was ‘I wish Karen was here’ and then it dawned on me as it appeared I was in a daze. I really want to thank Jamaica and all those persons responsible for this. I don’t think I deserve it more than anybody else but I believe God did it and I want to give God thanks for that,” he says.

Daughter Renelle Morgan says her father is dedicated to serving his country.

“My father is not just an accountant; he is a community builder. Despite working so hard he is truly dedicated to his family and demonstrated his love in his sacrifices for us. It is such a good feeling to know that he is being recognised for all that I have seen him do for the community and Jamaica and he deserves this honour more than anyone I know,” she shares, noting that her late mother would have been grateful, but not surprised at the award.

Ms. Gordon, in congratulating Dr. Morgan says, “He never did it for accolades. He did it because of the heart he has for God and for people. So, to see him being recognised for what he is doing for the Lord, I am more than proud. I wish him all the best, and while this is great, I feel God has greater in store for him,” she added.

Dr. Morgan has given more than 30 years of service to the local credit union movement and lectured at the UWI, Mona, The Mico University, Northern Caribbean University and the University of New Orleans.

He continues to empower persons through seminars, workshops and training in the areas of family budgeting, finance, personal development, management, accounting and needs assessments for schools.