Carol Christensen

Carol Madsen Christensen is reuniting with her long-lost loved ones after she departed this life on October 26, 2022, in Fort Collins, Colorado.

“Christmas Carol” was born on Christmas day in 1929 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Andrew Clinton “Clint” Madsen and Elizabeth “Beth” Fox Madsen. Carol was the third of ten siblings who survived to adulthood (the first sibling died as an infant). With that many people living together in one house and everyone sharing bedrooms, she learned very young how to get along and share household responsibilities with everyone.

In 1948, while working in a drug store, she met Theodore Paul “Ted” Christensen, who was a Midshipman in the Naval ROTC program at the University of Southern California, who had come in to purchase a toothbrush. He knew he had met the girl he was going to marry, and he left the Naval Reserve to return to study pharmacy at the University of Utah. They were married on December 30, 1948, in Elko, Nevada, and were later sealed for time and all eternity in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah.

They had three children (Mike, Becky, and Eric) while living in Salt Lake City, as Ted continued his education. In early 1954, they moved to Denver, Colorado, to be closer to Ted’s parents. They finally settled in Aurora, Colorado, where they had their fourth child (Carolyn). Ted worked as a pharmacist, while Carol took care of the four children.

Carol went to work as a preschool teacher at Aurora Learning Center in Aurora, after Carolyn started all-day school. Carol attended Metropolitan State College of Denver to become certified as a preschool director, and then became director at the preschool. In 1979, she opened her own school in a local church, Luv ’N’ Care Pre-School, with Ted helping with bookkeeping and other responsibilities. Her reputation as a caring teacher paved the way for a long waiting list of potential students, and at its peak, her school had close to one hundred students. In 1989, she retired and sold the school.

In their retirement, Ted and Carol enjoyed traveling; first to Mexico, and later, when their youngest daughter Carolyn became a military wife, to Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, and England. One of Carol’s favorite memories from that time was visiting the Christkindlmarkt’s (Christmas Markets) in Germany.

Ted and Carol also toured and saw first-hand an active nuclear missile Launch Control Facility, more than 100 feet below the surface of the earth, where nuclear weapons can be launched when given the order from the President of the United States, something that very few people outside of the military, and even then, typically only those with very high government clearances ever see!

The love of her life, Ted Christensen, passed away on March 25, 2011, after Carol devoted more than five years as his loving caregiver while the effects of age took a slow toll on him. Carol stayed in the house in Aurora for four more years until moving to Greeley, Colorado, to live with her daughter Becky, and then into an apartment closer to her youngest daughter, Carolyn, in Fort Collins, Colorado. As her age inched further into the 90s, she transitioned into assisted living where she spent her final months.

Our beloved mother, Carol, is survived by four children: Michael Paul “Mike” (married to Dianne East) Christensen, Becky Anne (married to Andrew) Farago, Eric Van (married to Debra Owens) Christensen, and Carolyn (married to Ron) Thompson; ten grandchildren; eighteen great-grandchildren; and three sisters. She was preceded in death by her husband Ted, her parents, and seven siblings.

She asked to be remembered for who she was: first and foremost a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother; a teacher and chorister in the LDS church; and a preschool teacher, director, and finally owner. She was proud of her family and of the business she started.

She wanted to pass this advice on to her descendants: to honor their parents, to be honest, to get along with people, and to share with others. She lived her life according to her priorities: first raising her children, then starting her own business, and finally enjoying retirement with her “sweetheart” Ted.

A Funeral service will be held at 10:00am on Monday, November 7, 2022, at Horan & McConaty, 11150 E. Dartmouth Ave., Aurora, CO  80014. A viewing will be held prior to the service from 9:00-9:45am.

Burial will follow at Fairmount Cemetery at 12Noon.

Family and friends are invited to share memories of Carol or condolences with her family by sharing on the adjoining Tribute wall. Thank you.

To join the Funeral Service virtually, please click on the follow link: https://event.forgetmenotceremonies.com/ceremony?c=b8bf325e-e316-436a-9de8-7be8b19a2ee8