Recognizing the 108th Birthday of Margaret Elizabeth Mortensen

Floor Speech

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Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize an important birthday being celebrated in Boise, Idaho. Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Mortensen turns 108 years of age on April 21, 2025.

Margaret was born in Deer Lodge, Montana on April 21, 1917. Her parents were John Matthew Briggeman and Gerena Wolfe Briggeman. Their family moved with the Wolfe family to Lemhi, Idaho about 1920.

Margaret attended grade school in a one-room schoolhouse in Lemhi. She then attended Idaho State College in Pocatello, Idaho, first as a business major, then as a pharmacy major. Margaret graduated in 1938 as a pharmacist. She worked in Homedale, Idaho where she met Art Mortensen. She married Art Mortensen on June 25, 1941, in Nampa, Idaho. While still working as a pharmacist and wanting to help Art with his aircraft flying business, Margaret began taking courses to become certified as an aviation ground school instructor during WWII. Margaret taught aviation ground school to student pilots in Idaho and Oregon in 1942 and 1943, one of very few women in the Northwest to do so.

Margaret and Art had three children: Robert, Ann, and Perry. After the war, they owned and operated a drug store in Nampa, Idaho. Since the drug store was open six days a week, there was no vacation time. After three years they sold the drug store, and took a vacation for six months in Corpus Christi, Texas. The family lived in a 16 ft travel trailer on the beach. Margaret and Art returned to Idaho and bought a drug store in Parma. They operated that store for four years before selling it, and took the family to Fairbanks, Alaska in the 16 ft travel trailer for the summer of 1959. Next, they moved to San Jacinto, California and stayed for two years. Upon moving back to Idaho, they bought and operated a drug store in Meridian, in 1961. They sold that drug store and moved back to Parma. In 1968 Margaret and Art started the A-BAR-M Mobile Home Park which provided affordable housing for families living and working in the area. While still managing the Mobile Home Park, they moved to the San Juan Islands in the state of Washington, where Margaret worked as the pharmacist in Friday Harbor.

After retirement, Margaret and Art bought a small motorhome and traveled the United States from Washington to Florida. Art Mortensen passed away in 1987, in Bellingham, Washington. Margaret now lives with her son Robert and his wife Connie, in Boise. Idaho. She is celebrating her 108th birthday on April 21, 2025, with family and friends.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Mortensen as she, her family, and friends, celebrate her 108th birthday.

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