The Story of the Hans Christian Jorgensen Family

as told by their daughter Luella

My father, Hans Christian Jorgensen, was born February 10, 1870, in Taarnborg, Denmark and my mother Hulda Marie Bergstrom Jorgensn, was born August 18, 1876, in Ostaryda, Sweden.

I don't recall ever hearing how my parents met or what my father did for a living in Denmark, but I feel that he was raised in an environment that would teach him to produce his livelyhood from the good earth and to use his hands and mind to build for the comfort of those around him, for this was the work he did to provide his family with the comforts they enjoyed.

My mother’s family must have moved to Denmark, during the first six years of her life, for her brother, Oskar Ludwig Bergstrom, was born June 15, 1882, in the little town of Olsker, in Bornholm, Denmark and her other brother and two sisters were also born in Bornholm, after that time.

My parents were married December 8, 1899, in Copenhagen, Denmark. It must have been a very special day for them, for their wedding picture shows my mother to be a very beautiful bride and my father to be a very handsome man, each expressing the seriousness of the vows they had taken.

Very shortly after their marriage they met John F. Peterson, the missionary who converted them to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were baptized July 10, 1901, in Copenhagen, by Brother Peterson, and he continued to influence their lives, for good, which created a real bond of love and friendship between them throughout their lives.

My oldest brother Hejmar Christian Jorgensen, was born September 29, 1900, in Copenhagen and my parents came to the United States, shortly after they were baptized, for my sister, Virginia Hulda Jorgensen, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, October 10, 1903 and my parents received their Temple Endowments and were sealed to each other and had Hejmar and Virginia sealed to them in the Salt Lake Temple January 11, 1905.

My next sister, Leona Marie Jorgensen was born April 29, 1905 and died July 10, 1906 and my baby brother, Frank Bergstrom Jorgensen was born December 4, 1909 and died August 21, 1910. They were not very strong babies and both died of what was then called summer-complaint.

Though I was born on June 23, 1908, eighteen months before my brother Frank, and having outlived my parents and all my brothers and sisters, I know that the family ties, of my parents with their parents, were strong though temporarily strained, for I was named “Ida” for my grandmother Bergstrom, Frank was given Bergstrom as his middle name and my living cousin, Hejmar Bergstrom, in Hasle, Bornholm, Denmark was named after my brother. Children are given precious names for precious reasons.

My parents families were very unhappy about my father and mother joining the church and leaving Denmark, and for many years there was very little communication between them. The first time I recall my mother hearing from her family, was when her mother Ida Catharina Bergstrom, passed away on June 4, 1918. My parents may have had other communications with their families, but I was too young to be aware of it, for I was only about 10 years old when we received word of my grandmother’s death. My mother’s father, Erik Gustav Bergstrom, died September 15, 1931, and from then on my mother corresponded with her family at Christmas time and occasionally during the year, usually in an emergency.

My father used to get an occasional letter from his family and it would have been either from his father, or brother Niels Peter Jorgensen or his sister Ane Margrethe Jorgensen, as his mother and four other sisters were deceased before he left Denmark.

The only other knowledge I have of my father’s family is that his mother Petrin Christine Pedersen, died November 20, 1879 and on March 23, 1880, my grandfather, Hans Jorgensen, married his second wife, Johanne Johnsen. He was a railroad watchman and he died February 26, 1915.

I realize more each day the importance of family, and family ties, and though I heard and knew very little about my grandparents, I know that they must have been very wonderful people, for my parents were a shining example of honest, charitable and clean hardworking people, which was undoubtedly the heritage handed down to them from their parents. This heritage played a very important part in the lives of my parents in raising their family and in their church and community

activities.

To the best of my knowledge mother and father were not raised in religious families, but when my parents heard the gospel, they recognized the need for it in their lives and realized the guidance and direction it would give them in raising their family and so made the sacrifice of leaving their families in Denmark to come to Salt Lake City, Utah, sot hat we could be raised in the atmosphere of the Mormon Church. They settled in the Forest Dale Ward and were very active in attending meetings and any church project where they could learn more or contribute through their efforts. My mother's late teen years, in Denmark, had been spent as one of the cooks in the King's Palace and therefore she was well qualified to help the ward sisters improve their cooking skills. She was a

wonderful homemaker and an excellent seamstress. Relief Society was her pride and joy, for it was in that organization that she was able to be most helpful with her talents.

The Lord has endowed each of us with different talents and according to how those talents were developed, we are able to contribute to our families and to others we come in contact with. I know my mother and father each had a strong testimony of the Gospel, though they were not able to express it in words to the degree they would have liked, but they truly followed the example of the Savior in showing compassion to those in need, through their creative talents. Mother with her cooking, sewing and handcraft ability was always lending a hand to anyone who needed her help. When Patriarch Nicholas G. Smith gave mother her blessing, September 1, 1932, he was impressed with her compassionate spirit for he said: "Your life has been approved by your

Heavenly Father: the Lord loves you for the good that you have accomplished in life; for the happiness and the joy and the peave that you have brought intot he lives of others; His protecting care and HIs blessing has been over you and with you. Your life of devotion to right and righteousness has affected many people and your name shall be called blessed by generations yet unborn for the good and the sweetness that has come from your lfie into their lives."

I'm sure Patriarch Smith would have given my father a similar blessing, for the teachings to others in his life time are still being reflected in buildings through the national, such as the Washington Temple and the rebuilding of the St. George and Arizona Temples. My father was a carpenter contractor and aside from building homes in Salt Lake, he also spent a large portion of his time building chapels and other church buildings. He was well known for giving a helping hand to friends and neighbors with their building and repair jobs. It was my father that taught John Okland, the building trade. They worked together, like father and son, for many years. John Okland and his sons have since build many of the church buildings and temples and each time I go to Salt Lake, I can see additional buildings being built by them, such as the Kennecott BUilding and the new Little America Hotel. I can't help but be proud that my father helped them, as he did many others in their beginnings.

My parents had learned to love their way of life in the United States and though they worked long and hard hours, they made time to go to night school to learn the language and prepare themselves to become citizens of the United States. This great day was realized May 24, 1920. This was truly special day for they had reached their goals of belonging to the United States of American and to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Mother and Dad worked equally hard at raising Virginia and me. Our activities were almost completely within the church and school, for they realized that this environment would give us the best guidance we could have in helping us building strong minds and bodies.

Our early years of schooling started at Forest Dale Grammar School, a long, long mile away from home. I guess I wasn't too impressed with the first few years of school, for I don't remember much about it, but I sure enjoyed playing on the play grounds. I was real happy for the new Nibley Park Grammar School that was built several years later, just four blocks from home. It was there that I really started to enjoy my school work and made many friends.

After finishing grammar school Hejmar and Virginia went to Forest Dale High School which was located on the same grounds as the grammar school. From there Virginia went to LDS Business Colelge and became a very good secretary for an electric company in Salt Lake.

Hejmar and Virginia had more in common for they were only three years apart, but both his sisters felt that he was a wonderful brother. I remember Hejmar as a deacon passing the sacrament and progressing in the priesthood. He was the pride and joy of our parents, for he was such a good boy. I don't think he ever did anything wrong, even to teasing his sisters. When he was seventeen he became very ill and the doctors had a difficult time determining the cause of his illness. Finally, they operated and found a ruptured appendix. His death April 18, 1918 brought almost inconsolable grief to my parents, for their love for him was so great. Their many friends and the knowledge of the eternal family was a great comfort to them during this time.

I was still in grammar school at the time of my brother's death, after which time I went to Irving Junior High School and then on to Granite High School from which I graduated in June of 1926. In September I went to the University of Utah for a year and two months. The interruptions of my education was caused by our move to California in 1927.

Saturdays were always a very busy day in our home. The house had to be scrubbed from ceiling to floor and the Sunday meals had to be prepared. Saturday nights were spent scrubbing ourselves, polishing shoes and making sure our clothes were in good order and ready for the most important day of the week, Sunday. That was always a full day for we had Sunday School at 10:00, sacrament meeting at 2:00 and night meeting at 6:00 in the evening.

Our ward teachers played an important part in our lives, for when they came each month the family would be called together to hear their message and they were always called to our home when we needed counsel or a special blessing for someone who was sick.

Our parents gave us music lessons, when we were very young so we could be prepared to play the piano at church, if we were needed. I always point with pride to J. Spencer Cornwall, one of the former tabernacle organists and choir directors, for he was my piano teacher. It was though this training and the choral training we received at school and in our ward choir that Victoria and I learned to sing and it was in our late teens that we had the privilage of sining duets together in many wards in Salt Lake and also in Los Angeles.

When we were 12, we really became of age, for we graduated from primary into the Beehive class in mutual. That's when life really became interesting, for we were taught how to prepare ourselves to meet our adult world, both spiritually and temporally. I especially enjoyed the social hours that were a part of mutual, the dancing and teen talk with our friends. Then there was the Friday night family movie at the ward with the trimmings of popcorn and candy.

When a missionary was called a farewell was given with a lovely musical program and talks by the family and bishop and aferwards a dance and refreshments. These were special occasions as well as teh three act plays, the operas, cantatas, road shows and musicals that were given for our development and enjoyment. Virginia and I both were very active in all of these church programs along with taching in the Junior Sunday School.

Our only social life outside of the church was witha group of Danish, Swedish and Norweigan friends, all of whom had joined the church in their native country and had immigrated to Salt Lake City, so they could raise their families according to the gospel principles. They would get together every three months of an evening of good old Scandinavian talk, dancing and refreshments. We always looked forward to this occasion.

The Church stressed the important of being thrifty and of having a years supply of food, and so my parents provided sufficient ground around their home to have fruit trees and all the vegetables we could eat. During the summer my dad would plant a garden, and what we didn't eat then, my mother would can, and so our basement was always filled with hundreds of jars of fruit, vegetables, jams, pickles and relishes. We bought sugar, flour, rice, potatoes, onions and apples by the 100 pounds and bushels, and we had more than a years supply for all our needs, including a side of beef, lamb and pork, which was kept frozen in the winter months in dad's work shop. We also raised chickens the year round and when I was little, we had a cow that I never learned to milk.

Our vacations usually served a dual purpose of recreation and collecting elderberries, choke cherries, fishing for trout or hunting game and then mother would preserve them for future use. Our intown outings, on holidays, usually consisted of a family picnic in Liberty Park, which was a lovely place to go to visit the zoo, take a boat ride on the lake or listen to Phillip Souza's band play. Lagoon and Saltair were also favorite places for church and family picnics and open-air dancing in the summer evenings. Those two places have many beautiful memories of our early dating times as well.

As I look back, this was a beautiful way of life which gave us a good foundation upon which to pattern our own lives and it was after many dates with many eligible young men that Virginia decided to go on a vacation, with her friend Hazel Tooler, to Evanston, Wyoming, where they would visit Hazel's sister, who lives next door to the Heders. Bill Heder asked Hazel for a date and arranged a blind date for Virginia with Cliff Hackman. Virginia and Hazel stayed for several days and when they returned to Salt Lake, it was with Cliff and Bill, only that the trip was made with Hazel sitting with Cliff Hackman and Bill with Virginia. It was when he left Virginia at her home, with a nice big box of chocolates that things began to get sweet in more ways than one.

Bill had been attending dental college, at the University of California, at Los Angeles and had been home for the summer vacation. In September he returned to college for this third year. Feeling that correspondence wasn't a very satisfactory way to get to really know each other, Virginia and Mother went to Los Angeles, in the early spring of 1926, for a vacation, which proved to be very exciting for everyone, for when they came home, they immediately started plans for the wedding which took place in the Salt Lake Temple, August 20, 1926. Virginia and Bill moved to Los Angeles, where Virginia became a secretary at Grahm Page Motor Car Company and Bill returned to USC to continue his schooling. He received his degree as Doctor of Dental Surgery in June of 1927.

Yes, Virginia and mother's vacation in California was just as exciting for me as it was for Virginia, for Bill was living with Charles Starkey and La Verne Fowkes, friends of his from Evanstan, Wyoming, who were also going to dental college. Charles must has been impressed with Virginia, for he asked mother if she had anymore daughters at home, like Virginia. With a yes reply, Charles asked permission to visit us on his way home for the summer vacation. He must have liked what he saw and I know I did and so we started corresponding and this continued until he too graduated in June of 1927, with a degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery.

In the mean time my father had passed away on April 10, 1927, and it was in October of 1927 that mother sold our home and decided that we would move to California to be near Virginia. This was good for me as well, for taht way I could be near Charles and this results in our marriage in the Salt Lake Temple June 7, 1928.

We all were active in the West Adams Ward until that was divided into the new Wilshire Ward and Los Angeles Stake Center, early in 1928. These wards both have many fond memories for us, it was here that we met many friends that were vacationing in California, or had moved here from Salt Lake. Many friends we met there were our closest friends today.

We all kept busy in our daily lives trying to make a living. How well we remember 1929, the year of the great depression and people's income didn't seem to extend to dental care with young doctors. We thought Bill was fortunate, in that he worked teaching in the Dental College during the day and worked in a well established dental office evenings and Saturday afternoons. This proved to be too much for his health, for in the early part of 1928 his feet and legs became badly crippled with painful arthritis. Fortunately, he was greatly helped by a Chinese doctor, when all other medical help failed. His cure with herbs showed good results in a month's time. Prior to receiving this help, he had been so bad that he was unable to continue his teaching and dental practice for a whole year.

Charles' family felt that he should start in his own private practice, which proved to be very difficult to accomplish because of the depression. He had a lot of patients but they couldn't afford to pay in those days, but we weathered those bad times and came through them as greatful and proud parents, for it was on November 20, 1929 that our precious Betty Lee Starkey was born and to our great joy Billie Marie Heder presented herself to Bill and Virginia December 7, 1929. It was a real time of rejoicing for Grandma Jorgensen, for she was always available for babysitting and diaper changing.

It was in 1932 that Charles cut a tendon in the palm of his right hand, on a porcelain hot water faucet, and had general blood poisoning which affected his whole body, particularly his lungs. He was sick for many months and though doctors gave us little hope for recovery, his desire to be with his family kept him alive for many years.

Doctors advised us to relieve Charles of as much stress as possible and that he should not have the responsibility of a private practice, and so he moved into the office of his cousin, La Verne Fowkes, where he did dental work, at a pace his health would permit. I continued working until several months prior to October 20, 1933, when the Lord further blessed us with a wonderful son, William John Starkey, who was a great joy to us and the Starkey family. They were so proud of him, for they finally had a grandson, named after his grandfather, that would carry on the family name. It was with great pride and joy that Grandpa and Grandma Starkey came to California, so that Grandpa could bless his namesake.

With the responsibility of two children and an uncertain financial future, I felt the need for more security, so when our son was two years old I returned to my work, which I was able to do with the help of my very responsible neighbor to care fo our children during my working hours. Keeping a comfortable home, working during the day and caring for my family didn't leave much free time. We moved close to La Verne's office so it would be convenient for Charles to walk to work, but this made it so we were forty-five minutes and two buses away from Wilshire Ward, so we did not get to church as often as we should. When the children became of Sunday School age Grandma Jorgensen used to lend a helping hand by coming to stay with us on Saturday nights and then taking them to Sunday School Sunday morning and then having dinner with us in the afternoon. This was an outing for her and a great help for us.

In the mean time, Bill Heder's health had greatly improved and he was able to practice dentistry in an office with Dr. Leo Baughman, who was well established and guided him in good business practices until 1937, when he opened his own office on Wilshire Blvd., at which time he also returned to USC part-time, for two years, which enabled him to receive his degree of mater of dental science in orthodontia in June of 1941.

It was on Billie Marie's birthday, December 7, 1942, that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the second World War broke out and everyone was busy in one way or another with the ward effort. It was at this time that commuting to downtown Los Angeles had became a real nightmare and jobs were easier to get so I decided to go to work for Bank of America, which was just around the corner from home. This was a good move for I was able to spend more time at home and I also gained business management experience that has been helpful throughout my life. This also permitted us more free time which we spent going to church with our family. Wilshire Ward had been divided and we were now in Arlington Ward, which was much closer to us.