Our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend, Kathryn “Kathy” Mortensen Harmer passed away peacefully by the light of the Christmas tree in her room on December 14, 2023. Christmas was her favorite season. She filled her 83 years with love and service to others and complete devotion to her Savior, Jesus Christ.
Kathryn was born on Mother’s Day, May 12, 1940, in Provo, Utah to Arlington Russell Mortensen and Bessie Burch. She adored her siblings, Maria, Dan, David, Mike, and Betsy, and her stepsisters, Lorraine, Carol Jean, Irene, Joan and Kaye. She was anxious to reunite with her sister by heart--her “nutty friend” Marian Coleman--who passed away in 2009.
Kathy grew up in Provo, Southern California, and Salt Lake City. When she was 10 years old, her mother Bessie passed away. This early tragedy helped her become the compassionate soul that she was throughout her life. She was then blessed with two beautiful stepmothers, Florence and Dorothy. Kathy attended Olympus High School and worked as a soda jerk at Paul’s Ice Cream Store as a teenager, and later at the Cannon Hall Snack bar at Brigham Young University. She met Marvin Bliss Harmer while attending BYU and they were married on March 18, 1960, in the Salt Lake Temple. She graduated in 1962 in Elementary Education from the University of Utah. She taught 5th grade for a year, spent many years as a full-time mother, and then worked as a professional genealogist from 1975-2023 (finishing her last work project in June of this year.)
She was a faithful and devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She loved church service and especially enjoyed her time as Primary President, long time gospel doctrine teacher, Relief Society President and a family history church service missionary. She loved her 11-year prison ministry serving with Bliss. Kathy enjoyed crafts and spent years quilting, first with her grandmother Annie Burch, and later with family and friends, always chatting around her quilting frames in the basement. Kathy was a gifted teacher, writer, and lengthy genealogy storyteller. She was energetic, cheerful, non-judgmental, kind to everyone, and believed that everyone should start their day at 5 am. She instilled self-esteem in others through her generously positive comments. She loved to travel and especially loved France, Denmark, Israel, Germany, and Iceland. She taught her children to love books, to work hard, to always forgive, and to love the temple.
Kathy is preceded in death by her parents, brother Daniel Mortensen, grandsons Justin and Jeremy Brooks, and great-grandson Owen McMurray. She is survived by her husband Bliss, her siblings, her children, Kristin (Sean) McMurray, Ron (Colette) Harmer, Dawn (David) Pulsipher, Cynthia (Matthew) Brooks, Gregory (Jennifer) Harmer, and Matthew (Elizabeth) Harmer, her Native American daughter, Mae Dean Begay, 36 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements: Monday, December 18, 2023: viewing from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Garden Heights South Ward chapel, 2220 Fisher Lane, Salt Lake City, Utah. Tuesday, December 19, 2023: viewing from 9:30-10:30 am, followed by a funeral at 11:00 am at the church building. Interment will follow at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.
If you wish to view the services online please click on the link below: https://zoom.us/j/96728398316__;!!M2D_dUfSiN4E!MBm-K-YRjRQ57SOJ4k2Ynm91w-o_MgPhmmc_RFg8Mpiitc4rK5RJv1GxTMgGBima36bHbUCAh8OwURj-rvdXoSUyuYn3rtHglAo$
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