OXFORD – Catharine (Kay) Mortensen formerly of Painter Hill Road in Oxford passed away Monday, March 31, 2008 at the Valley View Manor in Norwich.   
She was born on February 25, 1909 at the family’s home in Pine Grove, (just outside of Woodstock).  Catharine May Snyder was the youngest of the seven children (by nearly nine years) of Leonard and Irene (Cunyes) Snyder.  In 1924, she moved to the city of Saugerties, so she could attend high school, graduating as valedictorian from Saugerties High School in 1926.  She then matriculated at Albany State Teachers college where she graduated with a BS in Education, Class of 1930, and was immediately hired to teach French at Roessleville High School in Albany. 
 The following year she met Herchel Mortensen of New Richland MN and they were married on June 27, 1934, at which point she was forced to leave teaching because of the board of education policy at the time.  In 1942 she, her husband, and two sons moved to Tivoli, and, the following year, moved to Germantown, when Herchel was appointed principal of the school district there.  In 1957, she returned to teaching at Germantown Central School, teaching junior high mathematics and Business Arithmetic until her retirement in 1972.  That summer she and her husband moved to Painter Hill Road in Oxford.  While in Oxford, she was active in the Joseph Jefferson book club and was one of the founding members of the Faith Bible Church.  She also enjoyed playing bridge and pinochle and was an avid knitter and crocheted – well known for her doilies and tablecloths.  She also loved nothing more than to pick fruit, be it blueberries, strawberries or grapes and, prior to her returning to teaching, was actively sought by the fruit farmers in Germantown.
Catharine was predeceased by her husband, Herchel, her brothers, Arthur, Luther, Ernest and Raymond, and sisters, Maude (Mower) and Elizabeth.  She is survived by her two sons and daughters-in-law: James and Karen Mortensen of Oxford and Harold and Luana Mortensen of Elmira; her grandchildren and their spouses: Kirsten Mortensen of Rochester, Sigrid Mortensen and her husband, Richard Loosemore of Genoa,  Harold, Jr. and Christina Mortensen of High Point, N.C., Loring and Lee Mortensen of Greensboro N.C.; and six great grand children:  Emlie, Rebecca, and Luke Mortensen of High Point, Skye Mortensen of  Greensboro, Soren Mortensen of Genoa and (her namesake) Catharine Lewis of Rochester.  She will also be missed by many nieces and nephews from both the Snyder and Mortensen families.
Calling hours will be 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday at the Behe Funeral Home, 21 Main St., Oxford with services to be held from Behe Funeral Home at 2 p.m. Thursday. The Reverend Norman Holtz of Faith Bible Church will be presiding.  
Burial will be beside her husband in Riverview Cemetery, Oxford.    
The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be sent in her name either to the Faith Bible Church, PO Box 128, Oxford, NY 13830 or to the H.R. Mortensen Scholarship Fund, Germantown Central School, 123 Main St., Germantown, NY 12526.