Mortenson, Carl Andrew 1934-2020

MORTENSON, GANTT, OURY

Posted By: Marjorie Brunsting-Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:36

Mr. Carl Mortenson, beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather was taken into the presence of his Lord and Shepherd on Monday, November 30, 2020 at the age of 86, at the Sanford USD Medical Center and Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

There will be a memorial service on Tuesday, December 29, at 10:30am, at the Dover Avenue Alliance Church in Orange City. The Rev. Dr. James Anderson will officiate. Visitation without the family will be on Monday, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City.

Carl Andrew was born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 15, 1934, the son of Bertil Carl and Kathryn Bell (Gantt) Mortenson. From age three, he and his twin sister, Cecelia, and younger sister, Faith, were raised on a farm in Yorkville, Illinois where he learned to appreciate and enjoy God’s creation.

Carl accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at a very young age, and has never wavered in his belief, even through many adversities in his life. His life was spared by God at the age of nine, when a ruptured appendix spread poison through his entire body, resulting in long months in the hospital, losing a year of school and re-learning how to walk. By mid-high school in Yorkville, he was mindful that he owed his life to serve God, willing, even if that meant being a preacher in New York City.

Carl was introduced by a speaker in his church to a program at Moody Bible Institute called the Missionary Aviation Technical Course. That would be outdoor work, which sounded too good to be true. They were taking twelve applicants. He applied, but also enrolled in another college with a friend. To his amazement in 1952, he was accepted by MBI to the Tech Course, getting ratings in aviation mechanics, flight, and radio, along with Bible and Missionary courses. The farm was sold and the family moved to Wheaton, Illinois. Training was geared for serving missionaries working in remote parts of the world. Two years were at the Institute in Chicago and two were at a little airport near O’Hare while living at home. Being one to get assignments done promptly, he had time his final year to rebuild an old Stinson Reliant airplane that he bought for $100 and a shotgun. Church friends had a shop in their back yard for that work.

During his first year at Moody, Carl met Alice Mae Oury. His mom had been her high school Sunday School teacher. They were married on June 2, 1956. That summer was spent at the Wycliffe SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) in North Dakota, where they were accepted by Wycliffe for service in Peru. Jungle Camp training in southern Mexico was next.

Edward was born soon after Jungle Camp days. Nine months old in January of 1958, he and his parents flew in the rebuilt Stinson to Ecuador where it was put into service by JAARS of Wycliffe Bible Translators. They continued by airline to Lima, Peru, for Spanish Study. In May, Carl contracted Bulbar Polio and was very near to death, close to being put into an iron lung. God intervened and spared his life.

During his recuperation, Carl began working on the design of the Evangel Airplane, specifically planned with missionary and bush use in mind. It needed to be a rugged STOL (short take-off landing) plane with easy maintenance and having two engines to provide extra safety for the “precious cargo” it would carry. This health crisis helped to shape the direction of Carl’s life endeavors thereafter.

Able to pass flight physicals in August, the family moved to the Yarinacocha base in the jungle, where he served as a pilot/mechanic for Bible translators working in thirty tribal groups until the end of 1961. Banj and Evan were born during that time. Furlough took them back to Wheaton.

William Cameron Townsend, the general director of WBT gave his blessing for Carl’s continued working on the design of the Evangel. Dan and Betsy were born in Illinois before their next move in 1967 to Orange City. The Orange City Development Corporation had paid a visit to Wheaton to invite them to locate on the new airport being built. The high-wing Evangel flew to Orange City to be completed with low wings and retractable landing gear for better single-engine ceiling. FAA Certification was earned by 1970. Over the years Evangel Mission, TKEF (The King’s Engineering Fellowship), and AAC (Angel Aircraft Corp) were founded to facilitate the ministry and business.

Two short-term trips to Lomalinda, Colombia, were made by the Mortenson family in 1970 and 1975, so Carl could fill in for pilots on furlough, and provide on-site testing of the Evangel and training in it for staff on the field. Evangel sales were generated elsewhere by being in Colombia. On the latter trip, all but the youngest Mortensons had assignments to serve.

Since that time, Carl and sons, with much mentoring by experts in the industry, have designed and certified the Angel, another twin-engine STOL plane, more jet-styled than the Evangel. Both Ed and Evan had become aeronautical engineers. All the kids learned how to buck rivets. It was designed and first built in the basement of the family home until a facility was built on the airport.

Recently Carl’s main drive and purpose have been to design a diesel engine that can be put on the planes that had been serving missionary aviation well in the past. Due to jets taking over, av-gas is no longer available around the world like it used to be, and the useful more economical airplanes have been put to pasture. Carl and his mentors have designed a special diesel engine with the needed horsepower, especially suitable for bush flying. Engine parts are being machined. God willing, that work can be carried on by others. Memorial gifts would be gratefully received by TKEF for that project.

Carl loved taking the young family all over the USA and used vacations to visit them in later years. He enjoyed teaching Sunday School to kids, college students and adults, listening to classical music, and attending the school programs of his musical family. He faithfully read his Bible and spent hours every morning walking and praying. He was awed by God’s creation and often compared himself to a sheep with God as his shepherd. He had a very quirky sense of humor and loved to twist a phrase, with an ever-present twinkle in his eye. He survived two open-heart surgeries, yet God continued to strengthen him and prolong his days, which he dedicated to missions and his design projects. We know that this final health challenge of COVID that took his life could only do so by first passing through God’s permissive will.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Alice; his twin sister Cecilia (John) Martin; brothers-in-law John (Jeanne) Oury; Chris (Carol) Oury; David (Debby) Oury; sister-in-law Kathi (Mark) Bennett; many nieces and nephews; 5 children, thirteen grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren with one more on the way, Ed and Donna Mortenson, of Orange City, and their children, Kaleb (Amie), David (Naomi), with a baby due in January, Kara, and Isaac; Evangelyn “Banj” and Gerald “Jed” DeJong, of Alton, and their children, Peter (Megan) DeJong, and their children, Cadence, Nevaeh, Tanith, and Blaize; and Benjamin (Lindsey) DeJong, and their children, Hunter, Everett, Elijah, Jacob, and Malachi; Evan and Maureen Mortenson, of Graham, Texas, and their children, Alexa (David) Evans, and their children, Zoe and Mischa; and Xavier (Ivy); Daniel and Becky Mortenson, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and their children, Grant and Autumn; and Elizabeth “Betsy” and Barry Van Wechel, of New Port Richey, Florida, and their children, Brianna, Savanna (Pierre) Vargas, and Andrew.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sister, Faith (Cliff) Saunders; his sister-in-law Marianne Oury; a nephew Scott Saunders; and a grand-nephew John Lerro.

Source: Oolman Funeral Home online obituary.