Clarence J. "Sonny" Morsberger, a retired Westinghouse Electric Corp. inspector who enjoyed telling stories about life in Baltimore, died Saturday of prostate cancer at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The longtime Morrell Park resident was 81.

Mr. Morsberger was born in Baltimore and raised in Catonsville, the son of a Prohibition-era bootlegger.

"Dad spoke about big cars with secret compartments to transport liquor and gangs coming down from New York and federal agents," said his daughter, Susanne K. Morsberger, a Harbor Hospital pharmacist.

Abandoned by his mother, Mr. Morsberger was raised by an uncle on Glenwood Avenue in Catonsville after his father died when he was 11 years old. He attended school until the sixth grade when he left to help support his family, who had lost their money in the Great Depression.

He sold newspapers, worked as a B & O Railroad passenger car cleaner at Camden Station, delivered Western Union telegrams by bicycle, ushered at the Hippodrome Theatre and guessed the weight of amusement park patrons at the old Carlin's Park.

In 1950, he was drafted into the Army and was stationed in Germany for two years. After being discharged in 1952, he returned to Baltimore.

"He often worked two or three jobs at once and although he had limited formal education, he had an aptitude for all things mechanical that served him well. He had a lot of get-up-and-go spirit," his daughter said.

For a few years during the 1950s, he was a Baltimore Transit Co. streetcar motorman, working on the No. 15 line to Overlea.

"Visiting the Baltimore Streetcar Museum in 2006, he was invited to operate the same type of car that coincidentally was wearing the same number as his old car," Ms. Morsberger said.

Before taking a job in 1963 at the Westinghouse facility in Linthicum, where he inspected radar systems, Mr. Morsberger worked as a pipe fitter, roofer, electrician, sheet metal mechanic and a rigger at the old Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.

"He worked on the construction of the Harbor Tunnel and helped install marquees at the Stanley and Mayfair movie theaters," his daughter said.

Mr. Morsberger retired from Westinghouse in 1988.

Married in 1952 to the former Anna Eckhardt, the couple saved their money and waited seven years to celebrate their marriage with a cross-country honeymoon trip.

"They left on New Year's Day in 1959 in his Pontiac, and it took them three months to get to California because they took jobs and worked along the way," Ms. Morsberger said.

Settling into life and jobs in Oakland, Calif., Mr. Morsberger was overwhelmed by the freeways and traffic.

"After an incident on the freeway, he got off and ended up in a bar, where he called my mother and said, 'Anna, let's go back to Baltimore.' They then left and drove back home by way of the northern route," she said.

Mr. Morsberger finally settled into a home on Morrell Park Avenue.

"Because he had been given beer as a child, he became an alcoholic later in life," his daughter said.

Mr. Morsberger became active in Alcoholics Anonymous in the early 1960s, and found inspiration from the Rev. Joseph C. Martin, who later established Father Martin's Ashley, a residential drug treatment facility in Havre de Grace.

"He was proud that he had been sober for more than 40 years and credited AA with saving his life," his daughter said.

Mr. Morsberger was an avid fisherman, hunter and camper. He and his wife enjoyed dancing polkas and were regulars at the Polish Home and the now-closed Blob's Park.

"He last danced on New Year's Day at the Polish Home on Broadway," his daughter said.

"Because he had such a varied life - he always lived on his own terms - he had lots of stories to tell and he loved to talk. His recollections provided a window into Baltimore life during the Great Depression, World War II and the postwar boom and the slow decline of the area's industrial economy and the neighborhoods it supported," Ms. Morsberger said.

Mr. Morsberger had an aversion to North Baltimore.

"He said it wasn't for him and wasn't too happy when I bought a house in Rodgers Forge. And the irony is he hated Towson and then died there," his daughter said.

Services were held Wednesday.

Mr. Morsberger is survived by his wife and daughter.

fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com