Orville David Mortland was born on December 7, 1928 to John (“Burt”) and Jessie (Taylor) Mortland. He joined older brother John and sister Margaret on the family’s farm at the top of Cavalero Hill in Everett, WA. Burt worked for the Roads department for the town of Everett, and he and Jessie grew raspberries, corn and Jessie’s prized dahlias.
Orv was a quick learner and graduated a year and a half ahead of schedule, with the class of “1944 and ½” After high school, Dad went to work, taking jobs at Woolworths, a local real estate company and Pacific Car and Foundry. Orv even gave Boeing a chance at his mad skills, but quit after one day because the work just wasn’t interesting enough!
While working at Castle Industries, an airplane parts manufacturer, Orv met his future wife on a blind date at a Halloween Party in 1954. Ann was a teacher in the Everett school district and she found herself “not immediately” charmed by Orv’s quick wit and devoted pursuit. The happy couple were engaged by Christmas and married on June 24, 1955.
Ann and Orv began their family right away – some would say that very night! Stephen David was their first child, followed quickly by Diana Beth, Marcia Ann and Jocelyn Ruth.
Stephen David
Dianna Beth
Marcia Ann
Jocelyn Ruth
Suzann Lauren
Suzann Lauren made her way several years later and the Mortlands stopped at five. Ann and Orv say they would’ve stopped after Dian, but as luck would have it (for Marcia, Jocelyn and Susie!) it didn’t quite work out that way. In fact, six weeks after Susie was born, Ann wrapped her in a blanket and brought her along to the official “cutting ceremony” that would cap the Mortland brood at five.
Orv began working at Magna Design, a furniture manufacturer in Lynnwood, Washington and he would ultimately retire from there in the early 1990’s. Dad made many life long friends at Magna Design, and was respected for his devotion to family, his sense of humor and his amazing ability to calculate large sums in his head. (His kids, however, or, specifically, this kid, remember many nights of help with homework that would give one the impression that his mathematical ability was not inherited!)
The Mortlands enjoyed many wonderful travel adventures over the years, something everyone really enjoyed. A quick inquiry of most remembered family vacations include a road trip to California and the Grand Canyon, car trips to Canada, Lopez Island and many others. Mom and Dad instructed us early on the pleasures of a good campfire, and how to make the perfect S’more – followed by Camp Eggs the next morning! They waited until the kids were old enough to be left behind before traveling by airplane to places like Europe, Mexico and Hawaii.
Mom and Dad figured out early it was more fun to throw everyone in a camper and head out for an adventure than pretty much anything else. These trips would be the beginning of a lifelong dream Ann and Orv realized in 2002, that of driving around the country for a year in their own motor home.
Dad always loved to travel, especially if it meant a chance to fish, shop or wander around! All of us kids can clearly remember Dad heading off to wander the streets of some unknown town or tourist site. Hands in pockets, shoulders hunched, a confident and purposeful stride as he headed off to nowhere in particular. He’d return with a copy of the local paper and maybe even a few donuts for those of us left behind. Orv perfected the art of people watching and making friendly conversation with strangers.
When Orv retired from Magna Design, he and Ann relocated down to the Oregon Coast to open a family restaurant, Puffins at Cannon Beach. Managed by their daughter Marcia, Dad was chief dish and bottle washer more times than I think he would care to be remembered for. The restaurant was another grand adventure in their lives and for the several years it was in operation became a favorite of the locals and earned the Mortlands many wonderful friends and loyal customers. It was at this time that Dad became involved in the local order of the Elks in Seaside, and he and Ann did a fair amount of catering work on behalf of the Elks after their restaurant closed in the late 1990’s. They enjoyed their several years on the Oregon Coast, and their kids and grandkids enjoyed a seaside vacation destination that they will always treasure.
Steve and his wife Kathie gave Ann and Orv their first grandchild, Scott was born in the summer of 1981 and Jocelyn gave birth to Brooke later that summer. Alex joined Steve and Kathie and Scott a couple years later, and Dian and her husband Nigel followed a few years after with Christopher and Brandon.
Several years later, Susie and her husband Jeff became parents with the birth of their son Henry, and daughter Margaret came along a few years later. Marcia brought Karina and her mother Marilu into the family fold when Karina was just a baby, and Marilu recently gave birth to baby Isai several weeks before Dad’s passing. Orv was a wonderful Grandfather (or G-Pa, or Grandpa, or Grandpa Orville) and he treasured each grandchild that came along.
When Orv and Ann decided to hit the road and roam the countryside in a motor home, they did so with classic optimism and pluck. It was the perfect time in their lives to take the trip on. The kids were raised and doing fine, busy with families of their own, the business had been sold and they were free of its responsibilities, and Dad had successfully treated his initial bout of colon cancer with two surgeries and a round of chemotherapy. It was now or never.
Closing up the house in Seaside, buying a second hand motor home and then retrofitting it with a number of highly customized Mort-ifications, these two companionable travelers, along with their dog Fritz, hit the road in May of 2002. The plan was to head east from Seaside, stay in campgrounds along the way and just see the sights. If there happened to be a flea market or craft fair or farmers market along the way, so much the better.
Ann, Orv and Fritz stayed on the road for over 11 months. They traveled east across the northern states and Canada to stay for three weeks in late summer to visit Susie and her family in southern New Hampshire.
After a quick road trip down to New York City with Susie, they continued down the eastern seaboard and settled in Florida over the winter. Turning west and wandering through the Gulf Coast and deep south, they came up through Arizona and Utah to return to Seattle a week early so as to surprise Jocelyn at her 40th birthday party.
Mom updated everyone with a wonderful se ries of emails she sent out along the way, and a family friend shipped them their mail once a month. Ann and Orv spent their days driving or resting or plotting the drive to their next stop, seeing the sights or just hanging out at home. The Full-timers culture suited them to a T and they both fully enjoyed every day. Although at one point, just when Mom was convinced she and Dad had said everything there was to say to one another, they invested in Satellite Radio and “saved the marriage!”
The trip had its peaks (Grandson Chris joins them in South Dakota! Parking the ‘home at Curtis Farm in New Hampshire and heading in to NYC with Susie! Hooking up with Dian in Florida!Decorative Doodads to personalize the Motor home! Niagra Falls! New Orleans! The Perfect Tomato!) and valleys (losing the towed-along Honda while making a right hand turn! Expensive Repairs! Unavoidable Delays! Additional Expensive Repairs! More Unavoidable Delays!). But was it worth it? You better believe it. Did Dad ever, in his entire life, even right up to the last few days of his life, announce a single regret about the hassle and chaos involved? Not once.
As their children, we kids were so proud of both Mom and Dad and their perseverance and their love of life that we couldn’t have been happier and more at peace to have them on the road. Having been driven around by Dad for years prior, we all feared somewhat for those folks they’d be sharing the road with. We had all come to terms with the idea that they could very well get themselves hurt, or worse, while out on the road. Their stayed strong throughout the trip and they returned back to us full of life and vitality in April of 2003.
With a new found appreciation for the little things in life, Ann and Orv settled back into life in Seaside, enjoying their home and visiting family once again, shorter trips up to Seattle and becoming involved again in the Seaside community.
Ann and Orv didn’t raise five kids without learning a thing or two about life, and this trip reinforced for Dad the personal code he ultimately lived up to his dying day, which this quote from Morris West sums up perfectly:
One has to abandon altogether the search for security, and reach out to the risk of living with both arms.
One has to embrace the world like a lover.
One has to accept pain as a condition of existence.
One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing.
One needs a will stubborn in conflict, but apt always to total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying.
- Morris L. West
Soon after returning from their trip, Orv received word that his cancer had returned. Up until the cancer plaguing him in his final years, Mort had always enjoyed excellent health. Oh sure, there were the perfectly explainable mishaps (rolling the Blazer while reaching for an elusive Butterfinger in the glove box, or attempting to single handedly relocate a boat and trailer with his bare hands – see “Rolling Boat Trailer Drags Man 80 Feet”, Seaside Signal, 1997) and the same standard coughs and colds suffered by every other red blooded American, but overall, his health was excellent, his body a machine.
There are two gifts Mom and Dad gave us kids: a great marriage to grow up safe inside of, and a robust immune system. We could certainly name several dozen more, but those are two of the secrets to happiness we Mortland children enjoyed. Safe harbor and good health.
Over the years, if any of us kids had a friend who needed or felt comforted by Ann and Orv’s special brand of parenting – that elusive mix of support and independence, acerbic wit and unconditional acceptance, why, they were more than welcome to join in the fun. Is it possible that we kids could all name a friend or two of ours that was welcomed into the fold over the lifetime of our family? Are there even some of those lucky ducks reading these words right now?
Diving in to another round of chemo with the classic Mortland optimism, Ann and Orv celebrated Dad’s first day of treatment by adopting a little black dog they named Kimo. Mort continued to receive treatment in Seaside, but they gradually began to realize that they would rather be surrounded by family full time and so the brainstorming began for another of life’s elegant solutions.
In June of 2005, Ann and Orv celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary and their family threw them a big party at their home. It was a beautiful day, and many friends and family came to congratulate them on having made it so far in life. Fifty years is a long time, especially when you throw in eleven months crammed together inside a motorized isolation chamber towards the end of it! But whatever Ann and Orv did, it worked. They made a great team, and it was with a lot of pride and joy that their friends and family helped to celebrate that wonderful day.
Later in the summer of 2005, Ann and Orv made the move back up to Seattle. The house sold, the apartment in Seattle was secured, the garage sales were had, and the move was made. Both Mom and Dad were so happy to be back in the city, the first few months were great fun for them. Lots of rides downtown on the bus, searching out delicious Chinese food, and hooking up with various family members for casual adventures. Several trips to Costco, Muckleshoot Casino, Diamond Lil’s for their $5 dollar dinner deals, and of course the giant Goodwill down on Dearborn. They loved their apartment, the location was perfect, and the relaxed good times of being around their kids full time again was heaven for both of them.
Orv continued to be a voracious reader all through his life, and right up until the end, he was always in the middle of a good book or two. If there were words, Dad would read them. If you went to his home, you knew where Dad sat because there would be a newspaper tossed over the back of the couch, a book open and temporarily set aside, and two or three magazines awaiting perusal. The TV would usually be on, too.
Growing up, we kids watched Dad’s favorite shows like 60 Minutes, Barney Miller, M*A*S*H, All in the Family, Rosanne, and in his later years, (after we kids grew up and moved out and left Mom to suffer his television habits) The O’Reilly Factor. Dad was a devoted sports fan and he watched nearly every Seahawks game that aired on television. Any sport playing on TV was worth watching as far as Dad was concerned – boxing, curling, golf, football, you name it. One daughter remembers being called away from her piano lesson in the other room to stand by the TV and change the channel for him… perhaps this early version of a remote control was one his cleverest ‘Mortisism’ yet!
Running like a thread through Dad’s whole life, was his love of dogs. Seemed we always had a dog or two growing up, and they were usually Dad’s dogs. A little dog or two seemed to follow him where ever he went. Orv was always up for adding a new pup to the mix if the timing seemed right. One time, Dad and Susie picked Mom up at the airport with a Miniature Schnauzer puppy tucked into a box and placed on her seat! Mom was “not immediately” thrilled. Or, rather, Mom knew she had married a dog lover.
It was in November of 2005 that we found out that Dad’s cancer had returned and spread. Our precious father was entrusted to the wonderful care of a leading Swedish Cancer Center oncologist named Dr. Mehmet Fer. Dr. Fer arranged for another round of chemotherapy, this treatment cycle designed mostly to stall cancer growth. The cancer had returned, and it wasn’t leaving, but the chemo Dad endured gave him time, nearly all of 2006 before things took their turns and brought us to where we are today.
I won’t go into details here, but 2007 was a real fight for Dad. Chemo treatment ended for good in November, and Orv enjoyed a brief interlude over the holidays before a neurological problem began to plague him relentlessly. The available treatments were given to Dad, with some success, but in the end it was being able to come to Jocelyn’s house and receive around the clock care from his family that brought him the most peace.
Dad was at Jocelyn’s for the last few weeks of his life. His family gathered around him and cared for him full time, and it was there that Dad began to do the difficult work ahead of him. He had his dogs by his side, his wife and kids, his nieces Annette and Carol coming by nearly every day, and assorted adopted Mortlands coming in to visit. It was a wonderful, magical time for all of us.
Dad had always loved a good party, and even in the last days of his life, his wonderful spirit permeated the house. It was a sad time, to be sure, but also one full of laughter and casual conversation and spirited debate. Just what Dad would’ve wanted. Whether it was sitting in his room and talking quietly with him or others come to visit, or elsewhere in the house, Dad could hear our laughter and the comfort we found in each others company. Which is exactly what being a Mortland is all about.
So thanks Dad. Thanks for everything. You embraced the world like a lover. You accepted pain as a condition of existence, and you courted doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing. You possessed a will stubborn in conflict, but you were apt always to total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying. And best of all, you passed it on.
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We love you and we miss you. Happy Fathers Day.
