ROBERT A. "BOB" MORTENSON , 86, of Parker, Colorado, passed away on Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at Parker Senior Living.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, October 12, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. at Oakdale Evangelical Free Church at rural Meriden, Iowa.  Pastor Tyler Stauffer will officiate.  Burial will be in the Liberty Township Cemetery at Meriden, Iowa.  Military rites will be performed by L.A. Wescott Post #2253 and the Cherokee American Legion. Services will be livestreamed on the Oakdale Evangelical Free Church website.  Visitation with the family present will be held from 9:00 a.m. until service time on Wednesday, October 12, 2022 at the church.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made in Bob's name to the American Cancer Society and Alzheimer's Association.

Bob was born on August 7, 1936 at his home in Hudson, Massachusetts to Walmer and Ethel (Smith) Mortenson.  He graduated from Hudson High School in 1954.  He attended Morningside College and graduated in 1959.  He entered the United States Army Reserves and served from January 1960 to May 1966.

He was united in marriage to Edythe Lorraine Halstrom on June 5, 1959.  They lived in Sioux City for two years before relocating to Algona, where he taught math and science for 2 years.  They then moved to Syracuse, New York, where he went on a National Science Foundation Academic Year Scholarship to work on his Master's Degree.  He earned that in 1965.  Bob went on to teach at Midwestern College in Denison, Iowa for two years before moving to Columbia, Missouri to work on his doctorate degree.  While studying there, he worked as a Graduate Assistant.  After receiving his doctorate in 1970, he became the Resident Area Coordinator for Student teaching in Bloomington, Indiana.  In 1975, Bob and Lorraine moved with their three children to Omaha, where he was the Executive Secretary of the Mid-Plains Teacher Corps Network for 5 years. After funding ended for the Mid-Plains Teacher Corps Network, he worked for a year as the chairperson  of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of North Jacksonville, Florida.  In September 1981, he became the Director of the Department of Conferences and Institutes for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and served there for 7 years. In 1988, he became the Associate Dean in the College of Education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha until his retirement in August of 2000.

Bob was a devoted husband to his wife, Lorraine, a supportive father to his three children-Tim, Lori, and Steve and an enthusiastic grandpa in his grandchildren's lives. For Bob, his family was the center of his being.  During his lifetime, Bob was active in the Methodist Church.  Some of his hobbies were swimming, mowing, and eating ice cream.

He is survived by two daughters-in-law, Pam Mortenson of Bennington, Nebraska and Robin Mortenson of Parker, Colorado; son-in-law, Gregory Stolp of Vienna, Virginia and five grandchildren, Matt and Gemma (Marus) Mortenson, Mike Mortenson, Grace Mortenson, Megan and Ben Steinheimer, and Katie and David Hayman; one great grandchild, Noah Steinheimer; brother Richard "Dick" Mortenson.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents; wife Lorraine in 2004; sons, Tim Mortenson in 2017 and Steve Mortenson in 2020; daughter, Lori Mortenson Stolp in 2006; brother David Mortenson in 2017; sisters-in-law, Alice Mortenson and Caroleanne Mortenson, both in 2022.