[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 68 (Monday, April 21, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     RECOGNIZING THE 108TH BIRTHDAY OF MARGARET ELIZABETH MORTENSEN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MICHAEL K. SIMPSON

                                of idaho

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 21, 2025

  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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