Carl Mortenson

Carl William Mortenson, Jr, 92, died Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at the Claire Bridge Memory Care Center in Scottsdale, AZ. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, December 31, 2015 at Cantrell Funeral Home in Kimball. Burial will be held in the Kimball Cemetery. A viewing for family and friends will be held at the funeral home on Wednesday, December 30th from 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial made in Carl W. Mortenson, Jr’s name to Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church or the Kimball Cemetery Foundation. The services for Carl have been entrusted to the Cantrell Funeral Home.

Carl was born May 25, 1923 in Kimball, NE to Carl W. and Alma (Kindstrom) Mortenson, Sr. He lived with his parents on a farm in Banner County, NE until 1934 when they moved to a farm in Kimball County, NE. He graduated from Kimball County High School in 1941 and took a short agricultural course in Lincoln, NE from November 1941 to March 1942. He was drafted into the Army Air Corps in July of 1945; he was honorably discharged in December of that year.

Carl’s lifetime work and joy was farming. After high school he farmed with his father and later purchased his own land and rented other land which he mainly planted to wheat. He married Ruth Irene Pile on September 25, 1949 and they settled on a farm 8.5 miles north of Kimball. He and Ruth made their home there for 52 years, raising their daughters and entertaining family and friends. They attended Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church. Ruth preceded him in death in November 2001. Carl remained on the farm until August 2002 when he retired from farming but retained an active interest in the farm operation. In August 2002 he moved into the Village Independent Living in Scottsbluff where he made many friends and participated in the activities. When he was no longer able to live alone, he lived in the Emerald Court Care Center in Scottsbluff from February through April 2014. He then moved to Grace Pointe in Lincoln, NE to be near his daughter, Nancy. In April of this year he moved to Scottsdale, AZ to be near his daughter, Betty.

Carl is survived by three daughters: Linda B. Webb and her husband Robert of Carthage, IL, Nancy K. Gibson and her husband Daniel of Lincoln, NE, and Betty S. Gillis and her husband Gregory of Scottsdale, AZ. Also surviving are eight grandchildren, Robert (Mikele) Webb, Bethany (Kevin) Quisenberry, Carla (Trent) Graham, Melanie (Chris St. Pierre) Gibson, Shane (Danielle) Gibson, Justin Gibson (fiancé Kate Boone), Krista Gillis and Kelsey Gillis; three great grandchildren, Aiden and Cade Quisenberry and Suvi St. Pierre; a niece, Deborah McAtee; a nephew Craig Woodhurst; and two great nephews, Clay McAtee and William Woodhurst. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, his sister Betty Louise Graham, two grandsons and one great grandson.