East Texas

By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer

BERRYVILLE — One week after a head-on collision rocked two communities, family and friends prepare to say goodbye to a pastor and his daughter.

Hilltop Baptist Church officials said this morning that funeral services have been set for Shane Lawrence Morgan and his 12-year-old daughter Kalee Elizabeth Morgan.

Hilltop Baptist senior deacon Bill Gulihur said the church family and the communities of Berryville and Frankston were beginning to heal a week after a fatal accident killed the church’s pastor and his daughter and left his wife and a younger child healing from injuries.

"Of course we are still hurting, but a lot of the church body is staying busy making sure Lisa and Emily are getting everything they need. Our main concern now is them,” he said.

Morgan, his wife Lisa and their two children Kalee and 4-year-old Emily were on their way to Wednesday night church services last week when their vehicle was struck head on by another vehicle.

Kalee died at the scene and Shane died later at East Texas Medical Center. Lisa and Emily have been hospitalized as has the driver of the other vehicle, Naval Chief Petty Officer Jose Miramontes Jr., 31, of Kemp.

Gulihur said Lisa and Emily could be released from the hospital as early as Thursday.

"They are healing from their injuries and doing much better," he said.

According to a DPS report by trooper James Martin, the accident happened about 4:45 p.m. last Wednesday on Farm-to-Market Road 317 south of Brownsboro.
Gulihur said services are set for Saturday at 1 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Frankston.

The family also has a tragedy fund set up and donations can be made to the Morgan Family Fund has been established at the First State Bank in Frankston, but contributions can also be made at the branches in Palestine and Noonday.

Shane Lawrence Morgan, 34 (left back) and Kalee Elizabeth Morgan, 12, (left front) were killed in an accident on Farm-to-Market Road 317 on Feb. 13. The accident also left Lisa Ann Morgan (right back) and Emily Paige Morgan (right front) hospitalized.
(Staff photo by Tom Turner)