Ione Hunsaker Mortensen

Ione is the matriarch of a loving family. She is a wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She is firm in her testimony of God and Jesus Christ, is quick to love and serve others, enjoys music, loves to write poetry and children’s stories. She loves directing plays, which reveals another of her marvelous facets in her character and talents. She enjoys being surrounded by the sounds of family fun and laughter. She died surrounded by love on Sunday, January 7, 2024.

Ione was born in Logan Utah on March 10, 1935, to Lloyd Rulon Hunsaker and Thelma Layton Hunsaker. She is the beloved sister to a younger brother and two younger sisters. At a young age her father took an assignment in Junction Utah where she lived several years on a small farm, with cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, etc. When she was 8 years old, the family moved back to Logan. Having family nearby that also had farm animals, she continued to have chores that involved caring for animals, candling eggs, milking cows and such. She graduated from Logan High School and went on to attend college at Utah State University, where she obtained her degree. She majored in Elementary Education with a Minor in Drama.

In Spring of her Junior year of high school while at a church dance, she saw the handsome college student who would later become her husband. They dated for a year and Keith asked her to marry him on the eve of her high school graduation. While Keith served a 2.5-year Mission, she pursued her college degree and worked jobs at Arctic Circle and Jackson Hole Resort. Ione and Keith were married in the Logan Utah Temple on October 10, 1956.

She feels blessed to have been able to accompany him as his schooling and career took them to different parts of the Country. Their first child was born in Alabama, then following their return to Logan for Keith to complete his bachelor’s and then master’s degrees, three more children were born in Logan. Shortly afterward they moved to Bountiful Utah, then he found an excellent career opportunity in California in June of 1964. She was blessed to give birth to two more children while they lived in Livermore, California. She feels blessed to have been a stay-at-home mother. Which – in reality, meant she was always on the go managing a large home with six children – and always welcoming ALL her childrens’ friends into the home. She helped us to learn alongside her, sewing, baking, gardening, preserving food, and maintaining a clean home. She taught us how to get along with each other and how to cheerfully support each other as a family.

Together Ione & Keith traveled with their children all about the United States in their 1965 Ford Station Wagon, often times towing a pop-up tent trailer as they took their family to see the historic places of the founding of the United States as well as the church history sites. Ione loves lighthouses and historical sites, so in their later years, the two of them took road trips to visit the lighthouses along the coasts of the United States. They also traveled about to every town they could find that had been named Ione. Doing so caused her to giggle as she talked about the towns. Most importantly, she taught us we are children of a God in Heaven who loves us, and of our Savior, Jesus Christ. She taught us how they want us to live and serve others, so we can return home to be with them one day. She and Dad were living examples of that. Growing up in their home made it easier to understand the kind of patience, forgiveness and unconditional love that awaits us when we one day return to our Heavenly home.

After having their retirement home built in Syracuse Utah, they served together as a couple on a mission in the Canada Toronto West Mission, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ione was thrilled to be companions with her husband on this mission.

Throughout her nearly 89 years, Ione enjoyed serving in numerous volunteer positions in the church. She blessed many families and individuals in the congregations and the neighborhoods in which she lived.

Ione will always be remembered for the devotion she has to her husband, her six children, grandchildren and nieces and nephews. She was always loving, and patient and we couldn’t have asked for a better example of true love, devotion, respect, faith, and teaching. She will be missed every moment of every day.

Ione has six children, 23 grandchildren, 36 great-grandchildren… and counting. Ione is preceded in death by her husband William Keith Mortensen, her parents, Lloyd and Thelma Hunsaker, grandson Aramis Sterling Mortensen and brother Frank Hunsaker. She is survived by sister Ann (Ned) Hall; sister Carol Williams; daughter Karin (Bryce) Randall; son Clair (Sharon); son Steven (Traci); daughter Annette (Douglas) Beckstrand; son Bryan (Judy); and daughter Janet (Andrew) Fralick. Also by 22 grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. The memories of Ione will live on in the hearts of all those who know and love her.