Bob Mortimer (born July 25, 1954) is a Christian evangelist living in

Gig Harbor Gig Harbor is the name of both a bay on Puget Sound and a city on its shore in Pierce County, Washington,. The population was 12,029 at the 2020 census. Gig Harbor is one of several cities and towns that claim to be "the gateway to the Olympic ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He is a triple

amputee Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indiv ...

who became a motivational speaker to churches, schools, prisons, and military bases.

Biography

Early life and accident

Bob Mortimer was born July 25, 1954 in North Lima,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. He has four older brothers and one younger sister. His father died of a drug overdose when Mortimer was 16 and his family then moved to

Hoquiam Hoquiam ( ) is a city in Grays Harbor County, Washington, United States. It borders the city of Aberdeen at Myrtle Street, with Hoquiam to the west. The two cities share a common economic history in lumbering and exporting, but Hoquiam has mainta ...

. Mortimer began drinking and using drugs and these addictions worsened during the next few years. When Mortimer was 21, he and his brother were driving home after a night of partying. The car veered off the road and hit a power pole, knocking the wires down. Mortimer walked into the live wires and was severely electrocuted. Over the next few months in the hospital, his legs were amputated above the knee and his left arm was cut off above the elbow. In 1979, he met his future wife, Darla and became a Christian a year later. They married on June 6, 1981 in

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

Ministry growth

After Mortimer was released from the hospital, he was invited to tell his story to students at the local high schools and middle schools. Eventually he chose speaking and ministering to be his full-time career and started traveling throughout the country. He moved to

in 1992 and made it his ministry headquarters. Since then he has traveled internationally to work as a motivational speaker for the military and as a missionary, while continuing his local ministry. He also frequently shares his message at

Luis Palau Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

festivals across the country. Mortimer and his wife now have three children: Nicole, Grant, and Chanel.

Hope and Courage Across America

Mortimer and his family started riding their bikes across the

on May 17, 2008. Mortimer rode a three-wheeled

handcycle A handcycle is a type of human-powered land vehicle powered by the arms rather than the legs, as on a bicycle. Most handcycles are tricycle in form, with two coasting rear wheels and one steerable powered front wheel. Despite usually having th ...

customized for triple amputees. He and his family pedaled from their hometown,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and stopped at churches along the way. They reached the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...

on September 12, 2008. In April 2011, Mortimer published a book about this trip. It also tells the story of how he lost his limbs and became a Christian.

References

External links

Official Hope and Courage Across America Website

Hope and Courage Across America Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortimer, Bob 1954 births Living people American evangelists American amputees People from Gig Harbor, Washington People from Mahoning County, Ohio