The Life of LeLa Christensen Hansen
by Julie Earley
My Grandma loved many things, but today two things stand out to me:
Greeting cards and Flowers.
I wonder if Hallmark is going to feel the hit of my grandmother’s passing—I believe she kept them in business. Not only could you always count on getting a birthday card from grandma, you knew that card was especially chosen for you. She would have read through who knows how many cards until she hit upon the one the was “perfect for you.” Many of us, her children or grandchildren, can remember getting the very same birthday card two years in a row. That’s because it was still the card that described you the best.
You knew she spent time, even when she could hardly walk, to go over and pick out a card just for you. That’s an amazing feat when you consider that she was picking out cards for 4 children and their spouses and 23 grandchildren! My mom and aunt were going through things at the house and found cards in sacks already picked out for grandchildren who’s birthdays were coming up!
This was her love language, it was how she showed her love and it was also how she received love. Last night we spent time going through the boxes, and I mean boxes, full of every birthday card, thank you note, Christmas card, valentine, etc, etc, that she’d received all neatly organized according to child or relative, etc. She kept them all and I know she would often read and reread the letters and cards we’d send.
The second thing grandma loved was flowers. Roses were her favorite, but she loved all different kinds. Wherever they lived, you could count on Grandma’s flowers being beautiful. Her children reminisced that they often awoke to the squeaking sound of the outside faucet being turned as Grandma watered her flowers every morning. I was always amazed how quickly she could tell you the names of various flowers and she loved them all and saw beauty in every shape and color. I’m sure many of you have enjoyed the roses here that line their property and all the beauty of their backyard garden.
With that in mind I thought it apropos to share a few stories of her life through a poem I found on a card that my uncle had sent Grandma for mother’s day:
My mother kept a garden,
a garden in her soul,
She allowed both rain and sunshine
to help her garden grow
Just like sunbeams, birds and
honeybees nourish and delight
She learned the best things in this world
would help to set her right
And when the winds and rains came,
she tried hard not to bend
And learned that through faith and trust,
God’s blessings He would send.
My mother kept another garden,
this one of the heart,
She planted all the good things there
that gave my life it’s start
Her constant good example always
taught me right from wrong—
Markers for my pathway
that will last my whole life long.
I am my mother’s garden.
I am her legacy
And I hope today she feels the love
reflected back from me.
My mother kept a garden, a garden in her soul,
She allowed both rain and sunshine to help her garden grow
The first stanza talks of allowing both rain and sunshine to help the garden grow.
Grandma was born on May 29, 1922 into a sunshiney family, with a mama, papa, an older brother and 4 sisters whom she loved very much.
She grew up on a farm where her nurseryman father had an orchard and grew lots of fruits and vegetables and grandma spent her days working and playing with her sisters.
MaMa & Grandma Kirkham
But Grandma’s young life had some rainy days. When she was just 6 years old, her mama suffered a stroke and died. She remembered being held up by her grandma Kirkham to see her mother in the casket. She said that she couldn’t remember her face but she remembered her black hair.
Immediately following the funeral, LeLa’s grandmother Kirkham moved in to help with the children. Grandma Kirkham was a stern little lady – tough pioneer stock. She ran a tight and frugal ship. She had a little black book she kept in the drawer next to the bread box and to keep the children in line, she threatened to put a “black mark” next to their names. Little LeLa was scared out of her mind thinking that these “checks” would be next to her name. Her younger sister Cleo didn’t care much for the black book and threatened checks, but it was the perfect method to get LeLa to obey. Grandma Kirkham also made the girls underwear or bloomers out of cheap black sateen and the girls thought this was the most embarrassing thing that could possibly happen to them. So out of style! Living with Grandma Kirkham could be difficult at times.
Just like sunbeams, birds and honeybees nourish and delight
She learned the best things in this world would help to set her right
The next stanza of our poem speaks of sunbeams, birds, and honeybees and how she learned that the best things would set her on the right path
Meldon
A couple years after her mama died, her papa married a girl named Meldon. The children all knew and loved Meldon already because she was their mama’s niece. The children didn’t know what they should call her because they already had a mama. But the minute Meldon came to her new home, older brother Kenneth said, “We're glad you came, Mother" and after that – they all called her “mother.” Meldon brought even more sunshine into their house. She requested that every child have a photo of their mama by their bedside and grandma told me that often when she had done well in school or done something noteworthy her mother would say, “oh, your mama is so proud of you and so am I.”
Worked Hard
One of the “best things” grandma learned was to work and work hard. She said, “We five girls worked like boys. We picked fruit, weeded the gardens, worked in the honey house, etc.” She remembered crawling behind her dad as he placed the buds in the seedlings. She would wrap to hold the bud in place. It seemed such a tiresome job at the time, but while they worked, her dad would tell stories of his life and teach her important things. And it became a time she looked back on with great fondness.
Honeybees
And who could forget the honeybees?! As a child I remember we’d be outside at a picnic or something and a bee would fly near and we’d scream and run away or try to shoo it away. Grandma would always say, “oh no, it’s just a honeybee they’re nice.”
Prayer
Another time when she was 10, her mother was ill. My grandma watched the doctor go into her mother’s bedroom and close the door and she got scared and started to cry. Her papa put his arms around her and told her to go pray for mother. He told her Heavenly Father would hear her prayer and Mother would soon be well again. She did get better and from that point on, grandma had a strong testimony of prayer.
And when the winds and rains came, she tried hard not to bend
And learned that through faith and trust, God’s blessings He would send.
The poem next talks about not bending in the wind and rain and if we put our trust in God – blessings always follow.
Scarlet Fever
Grandma had to deal with some sad and scary things. When she was 13 she caught Scarlet Fever and was in bed for many weeks. To make sure she didn’t make her family sick, she went next door to Grandpa Christensen’s house. It was hard being away from her loving family but she was industrious during this time and made many quilt blocks which were later made into 5 large quilts by her daughters and granddaughters.
Tumor
Then, when she was a junior in highschool she developed a large lump which turned out to be a tumor on her neck. Because Grandma sat very still and never cried or squirmed during her doctor visits, the doctor called her, “My little brick.” Her doctor was concerned that the tumor was cancerous so they decided to remove it. When her doctor came in right before the surgery he asked, “So how’s my little brick?” and her Mother said, “Oh she is just a little worried about the ether.” “Oh there’s nothing to be worried about, we’re just going to give you a couple of shots and you won’t feel a thing.” The tumor was very close to the juggler vein and they had to cut from the ear down to her throat. Grandma was awake for the whole 3 ½ hour surgery. At one point the doctor said, “Now you have got to hold completely still or it will mean your life.”
That scared Grandma so much she clenched the small mattress with her fingers and dug her heels into the bed. At the end of the surgery it all went well but she had bad finger nails and bruises on her heels. The doctor came into to her and said, “Well, you really are my little brick!” They also gave her X-ray treatments which was something they did before modern radiation treatments. The x-ray treatments were horrible and it made her tumor black before it was removed.
Losing Mother & finding Gordon
Another difficulty that Grandma had to go through was losing her mother. A year before she died her mother was bed ridden and Grandma lived with her parents in a small duplex and took care of her mother during that last year. Shortly after her mother died, she went to a dance in provo and met a handsome serviceman named Gordon Hansen. They danced quite a few dances and he asked her out. She was dating another boy at the time named Harold Gordon. Grandpa went off for to serve on a 6-week cruise to Japan and he was very happy to find out that grandma was still be available when he got back home. He said that he knew he needed to work fast – “to cut him off at the pass”. And he won. Grandma told me that Herold Gordon was a good man who was very handsome and he had his own car. He would have been a good catch, but she knew she chose the right man to be her husband.
They got married June 10, 1946 – one year later they had their first child, Ken – two years later my mother JaNae, then Delynn and then Shellee which brings us to our next stanza:
My mother kept another garden, this one of the heart,
She planted all the good things there that gave my life it’s start
This stanza is about motherhood and the things she taught her children
Prayer
They always had family prayer – every morning the family knelt around the parent’s bed. You never questioned it. If someone had to leave really early in the morning, it didn’t matter everyone had to get up to have family prayer. Even up until she died, they always prayed together in the morning.
Memorize talks
Memorize talks for church. There were no notes for church. That was the worst part of giving a talk. Her children all told me that giving a talk to the ward was nothing compared to giving it to mom. One uncle said it was that memorizing that helped him get through school, especially with medical books.
Love of Music
She gave all her kids a love for music. She played the tuba and piano and she danced. She sang to her children. She had so many little songs she used to sing but her children remembered them and sang them to their own children. And those songs are now being passed on to the next generation.
“I married a good mother”
Life wasn’t easy. Grandma was raising 4 children when times were tough. Money was tight and grandpa often had to work two jobs and wasn’t home often. He told me last night, you know, I married into a great thing. Your grandma was a great catch. She was a good mother who never complained that I was gone so much working. She had to raise those kids mostly alone. She made sure our children were well behaved and made good choices. When I was in the bishopric I’d look down and see families who’s kids were rowdy, but my children always sat still and were reverent.
Her constant good example always taught me right from wrong—
Markers for my pathway that will last my whole life long.
Book of Mormon
The family moved to Las Vegas so my grandpa could get a better teaching job. Grandma had a really hard time being away from her sisters. Looking back she wondered if she experienced depression during that time. She began reading the Book of Mormon every day. She developed a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and she later testified to her children and told them how much it had helped her. I know that in her later years she would play the Book of Mormon on tape as she put puzzles together and she said it continued to bring peace to her.
Temple
Later when the children were grown and nearly gone from home. She and grandpa made a decision to go to the temple every week. It was often very difficult to get everything ready and out the door. Sometimes they wondered if they’d every make it. One night when it was especially difficult to get there, she sat down and though, “does anyone even care that I’m here?” And at that moment she felt arms around her and felt someone saying “thank you” and then later on in the session she felt that this sister was with her and grateful for her service.
Service in the church
Many of you know that grandma had an eye problem that made it very difficult to read and yet she continued with extraction work and endured through the difficulty because she knew what she was doing was important.
Even in her later years when it became too difficult to go to church, she still held a calling as a VT’ing supervisor and she was faithful every month.
Even in her later years when it became too difficult to go to church, she still held a calling as a VT’ing supervisor and she was faithful every month.
I am my mother’s garden. I am her legacy
And I hope today she feels the love reflected back from me.
Grandma showed her love, as I said, through cards. But she also told us often that she loved us or that she was proud of us. She’d say “I know I shouldn’t be proud, but I’m sure proud of ya – the good kind of proud.” Or she’d say “I’m ‘pleased’ and proud of ya!”
She did something else that showed how much she loved us. She worried about us. She worried about all of us, her children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. (She’s always say I’m a Great Grandma, heavy on the ‘great’)
Before I married I traveled a lot as part of my job. Grandma worried about me all the time. She’d make me tell her my schedule and where I was traveling during the month so she would know when to start worrying. As annoying as it was, her worrying was her way of thinking of others – she always had great concern for our happiness and wellbeing. I know that she prayed nightly for her children and grandchildren by name.
On day as we were driving in car together, she told me how worried she was that I wasn’t married. I told her “Grandma, you don’t need to worry – I’m not. I’m doing everything Heavenly Father has asked me to do. I’m being faithful so I don’t have to worry and stress about it. It will happen when it’s supposed to happen.” Later after I married she told me that when she would start to worry and she’d remember back to that time and stop. “And here you are, all married with children, you knew all along that it would be ok. I need to have faith like that.” Even during the last visit I had with her a few weeks ago she brought it up with tears in her eyes.
