Channing D. Morrison

 Channing David Morrison of Nashua, NH and Lexington, MA died peacefully of natural causes on Sunday, April 21, 2024 at The Huntington at Nashua. He was 93. Chan was born on June 30, 1930 in Berlin, NH as the third of three children. His parents, Morris J. and Rose (Lewis) Morrison were Eastern European immigrants. Morris moved to Berlin from New York City in 1912, drawn to the North Country by its lakes and mountains. Following his service in World War I, he returned with Rose to Berlin and raised their three children. Chan was a very special husband of 69 years to his loving wife Harriet, a father to Dean and Jon, a father-in-law to Jon’s wife Leah, a grandfather to Nicole (and Christian), Michael, Matthew, Billy (and Nathan), Danny (and Jenny), and Timmy, and a great-grandfather to Parker.

Chan attended the Berlin public schools and the University of New Hampshire, where he graduated in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering. While at UNH, he played varsity lacrosse for four years and was elected captain in his senior year. After graduating from UNH, he entered the Air Force and was stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which is where he met Harriet. After the Air Force, he attended Penn State University and earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1955.

Chan was an early computer enthusiast and began his career as an electrical engineer at the Sylvania Electric Company in the Computer Systems Department. He spent nine years at Sylvania as an engineer, a section head, and eventually a manager in the department. From there, he spent a decade at Honeywell Information Systems and worked his way up to a product manager role, where he was responsible for integrating the Boston computer operations with the Honeywell Bull operations in France. Chan then returned to GTE/Sylvania in 1974 and worked in their Government Systems Division as a Program Manager until retiring at the end of 1989.

An avid outdoorsman, Chan hiked extensively in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, mentoring not only his two sons, but also many of their friends. He climbed and skied Tuckerman Ravine in late May for many years. Growing up in northern NH, Chan learned to ski at a very young age, and his love of skiing continued well into his retirement, during which he logged as many as 60 ski days a year. He raced competitively on the New England Masters circuit with his son and won the Governor Adams race at Loon several times with his grandchildren. He was very active in the Lexington SkiClub in North Woodstock, NH for over 50 years and held the position of President and Treasurer for many of those years. For 20 years, continuing well into his 80s, Chan traveled to the Canadian Rockies for two weeks of annual heli-skiing with the organization Canadian Mountain Holidays. Chan was extremely proud to become a member of CMH’s Million Footers club, for logging over one million vertical feet of heli-ski runs.

Chan and Harriet traveled extensively on ski trips to Europe and the American West, with Alta in Utah being his favorite by far. He was so excited when he turned 80 because he could ski at Alta for free! He finally hung up his skis at the age of85. Besides his first love of skiing, Chan also enjoyed playing tennis, golf, bridge, cribbage, and reading non-fiction.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to The Huntington at Nashua Scholarship Fund. The family plans to hold a celebration of life in the coming months.