Gene Leroy Mortensen

The service to honor and remember the life of Gene Mortensen, 78, is 4:00 PM on Friday, January 31, 2020, at Tulsa Country Club.

Gene was born on January 1, 1942, in Minot, N.D. He was an orphan in Fargo when a lovely couple walked by. He pulled himself up in his crib, held out his arms and gave a big smile. It was love at first sight. Christian and Catherine Mortensen adopted him and took him home to Luverne, N.D. and raised him with humor and lots of love. He graduated from Luverne High School and Bemidji State University. He married Letitia (Tish) Washburn on February 2, 1963. After graduating from Bemidji State University, they packed their small convertible and headed to Tulsa so that Gene could attend the University of Tulsa Law School. He graduated in 1967 after serving as editor-in-chief of the Law Review. He joined the firm of Rosenstein, Fist, and Ringold and practiced law for thirty years.

When he retired, he turned his attention to golf where he served on many committees in the Oklahoma Golf Association. He particularly loved the rules of golf and wrote a monthly column on the rules for Golf Oklahoma Magazine. A colleague said he was called “Mean Gene” because he so strictly enforced the rules in tournaments.

He was proceeded in death by his parents and adopted brother, Larry. He is survived by Tish, his wife of 56 years; his children, Joel, Thomas and wife, Carrie, and Elizabeth Hood and husband, Michael; four grandchildren: Aiden and Audrey Hood, Greenlee and Evie Mortensen; sisters-in-law: Nancy Mortensen of Utah and Sheryl Mergel of Washington; and six nephews: Shawn and Heath Mortensen, Cam and Chad Mergel, and John and Aric Washburn.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to your favorite charity or Oklahoma Golf Association Scholarship Fund at 2800 Coltrane Pl., Ste. 2, Edmond, OK 73034.

 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Gene Leroy Mortensen, please visit our floral store.