Roy Morse, Head of Engineering Dept., left his imprint on Seattle

Few people put a stamp on the map of Seattle that rivals that of Roy W. Morse, a respected public servant who headed the city's Water and Engineering departments for two decades.

From rearranging Seattle streets to accommodate the construction of Interstate 5 and the 1962 World's Fair, to building hydroelectric dams that deliver reliable water and power to the city, Mr. Morse's imprint remains on the city where he was born and spent most of his life.

Mr. Morse died Monday at Park West Care Center in West Seattle. He was 96.

Engineering ran in Mr. Morse's blood. He succeeded his father, Chester Morse, as head of the city's Water Department, and expanded upon his work developing watersheds and pipelines for a growing and thirsty city.

"If you looked up the definition of professional engineer in the dictionary, there'd be a picture of Roy right there," said Jack Pittus, who worked for Mr. Morse in the city Engineering Department in the late 1960s.

In fact, an annual honor of the state chapter of the American Public Works Association is named the Roy Morse Award.

A disciplined man, Mr. Morse wanted to be remembered as an honest steward of the taxpayers' trust, recalled daughter Alice Powell of Fresno, Calif. He even wrote his own epitaph: "Reliable Public Servant and Administrator."

As a civil servant, Mr. Morse was a stickler for the rules. When he was issued a city car for work, he refused to use it for anything personal — even on occasions when he passed his daughters walking home in the rain.

"Dad would drive right by and no one would even question that he wasn't going to pick us up," Powell recalled. "He believed you didn't bend the rules."

Born in Seattle in 1906, Mr. Morse graduated from Broadway High School and the University of Washington before doing graduate work at Harvard University.

In 1929, Mr. Morse married his college sweetheart, Elizabeth Hedges. The two were to have celebrated their 73rd anniversary Nov. 30.

After a stint in the National Guard and at a Philadelphia airplane company, Mr. Morse and his wife returned to Seattle. He was hired as a Boeing engineer in 1934. Mr. Morse worked for the company for a decade, guiding the development of warplanes and commercial aircraft, including the 747.

When Chester Morse, superintendent of the city Water Department, died in 1949, then-Mayor William Devin turned to Roy Morse to take his father's job.

Upon accepting, Mr. Morse slyly remarked: "I can't help but be impressed with the smooth-running operation of this department," according to a newspaper article at the time. Chester Morse organized the city's development of the Cedar River Watershed; a lake there bears his name.

But Mr. Morse did not rest on his father's laurels. He pressed the Water Department to build pipelines and secure reservoirs that still supply clean water to Seattle and suburbs.

In 1957, Mr. Morse became Seattle's city engineer, a post he held for 14 years. In that role, he headed major civic projects including the permanent creation of Seattle Center after the 1962 World's Fair.

Mr. Morse won numerous engineering honors. He was named Engineer of the Year in 1965 by the American Society of Civil Engineers and was president of the national and state chapters of the American Public Works Association.

While his work often involved giant regional projects, Mr. Morse also retained a local boy's fondness for Fauntleroy, the West Seattle neighborhood where he lived for more than 50 years.

He wrote two local histories of Fauntleroy that drew on interviews with some of its oldest residents. While the neighborhood is known for its spacious homes and spectacular views, Mr. Morse wrote that it was "the church, the school and the community center" that held the community together.

In addition to his wife and daughter Alice, Mr. Morse is survived by daughter Virginia Morse Bievenour of Indianapolis; sons-in-law Frank Powell of Fresno and Donald Bievenour of Indianapolis; and three grandsons.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Fauntleroy Church, United Church of Christ, 9260 California Ave. S.W. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the church or to a charity in Mr. Morse's name.

Jim Brunner can be reached at 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com.