Vicki Morgan

A Model Teen

Morgan's parents, Delbert and Connie, met in Britain during World War II. Delbert Morgan was a lonely sergeant in the American Air Force, and Connie was a tall, thin native of Norfolk, England.

They married, and Delbert moved his new wife to Colorado Springs. They had two daughters, Barbara, born in 1946, and Victoria Lynn, born Aug. 9, 1952.

Delbert Morgan wasn't much of a father. He left his wife for another woman before Vickie could walk or talk.

Connie soon met and married Ralph Laney, a kind-hearted factory worker. In 1956, the family joined the American rush to southern California.

They bought a ranch house in the brand-new city of Montclair, amid the endless Los Angeles suburbs of the Inland Empire.

Connie and Ralph Laney had sons of their own before Ralph died of a heart attack in 1961. Connie, forced to find work, began a long career as a cafeteria worker in Montclair schools.

Vicki, 9 when Laney died, proved to be an indifferent student, and she participated in few school activities, according to biographers Joyce Milton and Ann Louise Bardach.

Vicki Morgan

But she was a pretty girl who grew to a coltish 5-foot-10. Everyone began saying that Vicki looked like a model, so Connie Laney scraped together tuition to the Studio Seven Academy, a charm school in Covina.

Vicki did a few modeling jobs at the local mall, Montclair Plaza, until the bulge in her belly got her sent away to the Catholic home.

Vicki, still just 16, gave birth on Jan. 7, 1969, to Todd Morgan. By and large, the boy's care and upbringing would fall on Vicki's mother.