Morlan, Jerry Duane, 1938-2000

Jerry Duane Morlan (1938-2000) was born and raised in Victorville, California. He worked as a letter carrier for the U.S. Post Office from 1960 to 1965 before his eight-year tenure as an industrial photographer at Teledyne Semiconductor in Hawthorne, California. After Teledyne, Morlan was a successful general supervisor of the graphic arts department of leading toy manufacturing company Mattel, continuing to work as a photographer and sometimes acting as a consultant for the Yankee Photo Products company.

In 1974, Morlan became operations manager for a security camera service company. The following year Morlan enrolled in college to become an educator; he received an Associate of Arts degree from El Camino College and graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a Bachelor of Arts; some years later he completed his Master of Science through Nova University.

After a year of teaching Industrial Arts in Lancaster, California, Morlan relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he took a similar position at Garside Junior High School in August 1978. There Morlan taught Industrial Arts, Life Science, Physical Science, Health, Photography, and Service Art for more than fourteen years. He created a pilot program for technology education in the early 1990s that was very well-received by the Clark County School District. During this time he also published articles in trade journals and newspapers, and was an advocate for vocational education throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. This involvement led to his position as Administrative Specialist for Technology and Technical Education Curriculum and Instruction from 1992 to 1997, an important role in the growing city’s school district.