Lavern Mortenson

The year she was born the snowmobile and the Eskimo Pie came on the market, Betty White and Judy Garland were born, King Tuts Tomb was opened and the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated. On July 7, 1922 on a kitchen table in Belfield, North Dakota, LaVern Edith Hoerauf was born as an only child to John and Paulina Hoerauf. She was called home to the Divine to dance on September 24, 2013 in Great Falls, Montana. As a young woman during WWII, she worked at the Hanford Nuclear Plant when her first husband served in the military fighting the infamous Desert Fox. Her husband, Jerry Reiber, passed away in 1950 leaving behind a young widow with two sons, John and James, to raise. She married Maylen Mort Mortenson in Williston, North Dakota in December 1951 and they became a blended family with the birth of two more children, Marilyn and Jay. Later in life she married Spike Dreyer. Mr. Dreyer passed away in 2000. LaVern spent most of her life as an artist and a community volunteer. She was a member of Bethel Lutheran Church, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Eagles Auxiliary, Worthy Matron of the Order of the Eastern Star, Mother Advisor for the Order of Rainbow Girls, and recipient of The Grand Cross of Colors. As a professional artist she created over 300 pieces of art in her lifetime and volunteered time as an art teacher for disabled children. She won awards for her art work, loved to dance, enjoyed playing cards, and loved having great food at the table. Mom always desired to live her life on a grand scale, the people who knew her and loved her understand this. LaVern is survived by her sons, John (April) Mortenson of Vancouver, BC, James (Candance) Mortenson of Schuyler, NE, and Jay (Nan) Mortenson of Radcliff, KY; daughter, Marilyn (Frank) Cron of Great Falls, MT; grandchildren, Jocelyn, Kerstin, Keith, Kris, Mary Jane, Andrea Jo, Elizabeth, Katherine, Daniel, Emily and Rebekkah; and ten great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; and her husbands. A memorial time will be held at Cambridge Court Chapel on Saturday, September 28, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. in Great Falls, Montana. Her funeral service and interment will be held in the spring in the Bismarck-Mandan, North Dakota area at Fort Abraham Lincoln.