M. URSULA GUTHORMSEN July 22, 1932 – May 24, 2025
Ursula Guthormsen, born Mary Ursula Brady, passed away May 24, 2025, at the home she shared with her family: daughter Amy Guthormsen, daughter-in-law Erin Lay, and grandchildren Charlotte Lay and Walter Guthormsen. We will miss the easy-going joy she brought to our lives every day.
Ursula was born in 1932 in Albany, New York. She grew up in the Bronx and studied nursing at St. Vincent’s School of Nursing. Of her career path, she often said that she worked until she got bored, then found some grant money to pursue more education. This path led her to earn a Bachelor’s degree from Boston College, a Master’s in psychiatric nursing from Columbia University, and a PhD in nursing education from Lawrence University.
Ursula spent most of her early adulthood working, helping her widowed mother, traveling, and having fun with friends. While visiting London, she serendipitously met Donald Guthormsen, a west coast widower and outdoorsman. In 1972, after a long-distance courtship, they married, and Ursula left her apartment on Riverside Drive for a cabin in the Sierra Nevadas, eventually taking a position teaching nursing at California State University, Fresno. At a time when late entry into parenthood was quite rare, she became a trend-setter by giving birth to daughter Amy when she was one week shy of her 42nd birthday, in 1974.
After moving to Sacramento in 1980, Ursula spent the later part of her career working to support nursing education at the state level in California. These were challenging years in her life as she balanced a full-time career and parenthood with growing family responsibilities. Her elderly mother moved in with her in 1978, just as the chronic health struggles of her husband began to grow over time. Her mother passed away in 1983, followed by her husband in 1990.
Soon after adjusting to her role as the head of her new, smaller household, she met her longtime companion Rod Ely, a retired draftsman with a wide array of avocations. He waited patiently for her to retire so that their fun could become a fulltime pursuit, which it did in 1996. They traveled together and enjoyed the company of a widening circle of friends until his death in 2001.
On her own for the first time in many years, she relocated to Sun City Lincoln Hills, an “active adult” community, where she made more friends and took up new activities. In 2017, at age 84, health concerns motivated her to move to Los Alamos to be near her daughter, Amy. Though short term memory problems kept her from forming new relationships as she would have previously done, she never lost her enjoyment of people, and she was a source of joy and harmony to those she encountered. After three years at Aspen Ridge Assisted Living, the COVID-19 pandemic motivated her to move to her daughter’s home, where she spent five happy years with her family. She was considered by many to be a role model for graceful aging, facing all the difficulties of advanced age with humor and courage.
Ursula’s family will be hosting a dinner honoring her life at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10 at the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos. All are welcome.