Doris was the eighth daughter of tenth child of Simeon Harmon and Anna Buletta Jensen Dunn. She attended school in Manassa and graduated from Manassa High School on May 21, 1937.
Doris remembers her childhood as follows: "We were a close family and had a very happy childhood, with all the advantages available at that time. We were all taught to work by helping in the garden, doing housework, and helping on the farm, cooking and even milking, when necessary. Papa suffered eight daughters learning how to cook. We had some very happy times, too, going pinon nut hunts and having candy pulls. Papa liked nothing better than to have Papa play the piano while he and Mama would sing to us. Our home was always open to our friends."
While still in high school, Doris was dance director in the Manassa MIA with her brother, Edgar. When she was a junior in high school, Verden Mortensen came to Manassa to finish high school. The school in Sanford he had been attending was closed for financial reasons. He was on the basketball team and Doris was a cheerleader. They started dating and Doris' Christmas present that year was a diamond. They were married at the John B. Reed ranch on March 21, 1937, and then travelled to Salt Lake City, Utah, where they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on March 25, 1937. To this union were born seven girls and one boy: DeAnn, Rosalie, Lorna Jeanne, Mary Lyne, Gary Harmon, Delores, Susan and Kathy June.
The Mortensens lived on a ranch near Sanford until 1956. At that time, Verden went to New Mexico to work on road construction. Doris stayed at the ranch with the family until her mother passed away. At that time the family moved to Manassa to live with her father. The family lived in Manassa for 18 years. When Verden quit construction work, they moved back to the ranch.
While living in Manassa, Doris held several positions in the Church --Primary teacher, member of the Primary presidency, MIA teacher, Stake MIA Board member, and Stake Girl's Camp Leader. After moving back to Sanford, she was Mother Education leader in the Relief Society. In 1979, the Sanford Ward was divided and she was put in as the Relief Society President of the Sanford 2nd Ward. She held that position until she became an extraction missionary. Doris has served as a visiting teacher all of her married life.
The history above was taken from A History of the Ancestors & Descendants of Simeon Harmon Dunn and Anna Buletta Jensen compiled by Vera Dunn Olivier published June, 1993
