Elaine Morgenson

Elaine Morgenson was born on April 5, 1931, raised on a small farm in Martinsville, Missouri, and was the youngest of six children born to Newt and Eunice Hunt. As you can imagine, she was the apple of her parent's eyes. Elaine's mother was a local piano teacher and each of the Hunt children learned to play. Early on, it was clear that Elaine had a gift for music and she was soon singing solos in church and at school functions. She was an outgoing and popular child in school, was a good student, athletic and enjoyed team sports. With her dark brown hair, sparkling blue eyes and dazzling smile, she grew to be a beautiful young woman. After graduating from high school, Elaine attended the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver majoring in music. After studying for a year at DU she returned to Missouri and attended college in Maryville for another year.

She returned to the Denver area and married Ray Meilinger in 1956. They had three children: Lainie, Kevin and Leeann. They later divorced. Elaine was involved in raising her family but stayed connected to music. She was a soloist in her church's choir and sang in many programs at her children's school as well as at weddings, funerals and other venues. In the mid1960s, Elaine started singing professionally under the name, Lainie Leigh. For many years, she was the vocalist in a number of popular, local combos and bands in the Denver area, Colorado Springs and Vail.

In 1975, Elaine married the love of her life, Kenneth Morgenson and became stepmother to Ken's children, Nancy, Brenda, Brien and Lisa. Elaine retired from singing in 1978 and worked as a secretary at Ball Metal Corp. until 1983. At that time, she and her husband moved to Sun City, Arizona where Ken started a successful general contractor business. Elaine also worked as an office assistant at Morgan Stanley Financial. Elaine and Ken were avid golfers and enjoyed their friends and their life in Sun City for 22 years. In 2005, they decided to retire and move back to the Denver area to be closer to family.

Elaine's family would like to thank Ken for being a devoted caregiver for the remaining years of her life. Elaine is survived by her beloved husband, 3 children, her sons-in-law, Jay Acklin and David Martin, 4 stepchildren, 5 grandchildren, 4 step grandchildren, and 5 step great-grandchildren.

The family requests that In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to the Alzheimer's Association, www.alz.org .

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