Obituary

Martha Patsy "Pat" Gunulfsen Johansen

July 9, 1937 - March 14, 2023

Martha Patsy “Pat” Gunulfsen Johansen, a longtime resident of Avondale, passed away peacefully on March 14, 2023. She was born in Pine, LA on July 9, 1937 to the late Lena Mae Breland and Gudmund Gunulfsen.

Pat grew up in and around Bogalusa until moving to New Orleans as a teenager. There, she met the love of her life, Thorleif Edmund Johansen, to whom she was married for 45 years until his passing in 2005. Together, they raised six children: Peggy Nielsen Blank, Thorleif Ricky “Steve” Nielsen, Erik Johansen, Brenda Johansen, Tanya Johansen Landry, and Inga Johansen Carriere.

Pat was a loving mother who took great pride in her family and her Norwegian heritage. She traveled the world with her ship captain husband and experienced many adventures, including passing through the Panama Canal. She was creative and crafty, capable of whipping up anything in a pinch. She was also very intelligent, and her challenging (and harshly-graded) “Mom’s quiz” was texted to her family on a daily basis until she became ill. We will miss her humor and her stories and her overall loving presence. She was truly one of a kind.

Pat is survived by her children: Peggy Blank, Steve Nielsen, Erik Johansen (Nancy), Brenda Johansen (Norman Scott), Tanya Landry (Carol), Inga Carriere; nine grandchildren: Jennifer Castille (Craig), Jared Blank (Sean Marick), Pasha Johansen, Emily Landry (Amanda Bueche), Isaac Landry, Tessie Landry, Jacob Carriere, Abbey Carriere, Toryn Vicich; one great-granddaughter, Rylyn Castille; and her sisters Goldie Mae Proffer and Catherine Ann Dennis.

She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her son-in-law: Gerald Blank, her sisters: Betty Lorio and Carol Barber, and her brothers: Warren Gunulfsen, Jr. and Eugene Gunulfsen.

Services will be on March 22, 2023 at Brown-McGehee Funeral Home in Bogalusa, Louisiana. Visitation will be from 11:00 AM until the Service at 2:00 PM. Interment will be at Breland Cemetery in Pine, Louisiana.