Lovelle was born in Stuart, Oklahoma to William Walter and Ida Bell Garrett Long. She was the youngest of 4 children. She was an avid reader and writer and was known for her beautiful handwriting and poems.
Lovelle married Roy Edmund Mortenson February 6, 1948, and they were sealed in the Mesa, Arizona temple January 28, 1949. She gave birth to 5 boys and then a girl, much to her delight. Her crowning achievement was being a mother, including to many kids in the neighborhood.
Lovelle was instrumental in Roy receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She and a friend published two volumes of Index Guide to Periodicals of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Roy preceded her in death February 17, 1996. She moved to Logan, Utah in 2003, and came to love the people in her Shadow Mountain community.
To know her is to love her. As a young mother, Lovelle wrote a poem about life that could have well been her own obituary.
Gleaning
Each day I write a little note
And file it secretly
Within my heart, where it may rest
In silent ecstasy.
So fleeting is this youth of ours
That I would not delay,
Lest I should find some precious gem
Had softly slipped away.
I pause to take the dandelion
(With half its petals shed)
From chubby little play-soiled hands,
And kiss the cheek, so red.
Then watch him turn again and go
Back to his land of play,
And I’m aware a rose has bloomed
Within my heart today.
And as the busy day steals by
A sound drifts out to me.
Another’s arms await my care,
Up-stretched – impatiently.
I lift him gently, and he cuddles
Softly in my embrace.
As vibrant as the sunlight
Is his dimpled, smiling face.
To lend us courage – point the way
As down life’s road we stride,
Another stands so firm and true,
Forever by my side.
And as I count my blessings
At the closing of each day,
I thank the maker of us all
That I have passed this way.