Christen E. ""Chris"" Clemensen

""Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."" An easy statement, perhaps a cliché, but Christen Eldwin Clemensen lived by these words, instilled there meaning in his children and practiced the sentiment, to the best of his ability, with those he knew.

Chris was born on the South Dakota prairie on June 11, 1922, near Conde. His father, Adolf Clemensen and his mother Nida Lofthouse Clemensen worked the farm and raised Chris, his brother Berle and sister Gayle, with an eye toward honesty, loyalty and perseverance.

After graduating from Brentford, South Dakota High School, Chris attended Northern State Teachers College. His studies were interrupted to serve in the Marine Corp during World War II. As a member of the Sixth Marine Division, he participated in the invasion and taking of Okinawa. He was wounded twice and stationed in Guam to recover. In their retirement years, he and Bev traveled across the U.S. to attend Marine reunions. Following the War, he returned home and continuing his education, graduated from Northern State Teachers College in 1946 with a Bachelors of Science degree in Education and History.

He met Beverly Belle McCarl Clemensen at a dance and they married on his birthday in 1947. Chris and Bev raised three children; Barbara, Aprille and Chris. In those early years, Chris continued his education through nine summer school courses. He received his Master of Arts degree from the University of South Dakota in 1950. His thesis was ""The Twenty-ninth Marines"". He continued work on his Doctoral at the University of Colorado. For 10 years he was a teacher, coach and superintendent in Glenham, Vivian, and Northville, South Dakota schools.

1956 found the whole family in transition to Colorado where Chris taught math, history and social sciences in the Denver Public Schools for 30 years. He originally was employed at Merrill Junior High, went to Thomas Jefferson when it opened in 1960 and was positioned at Abraham Lincoln High until he retired in 1986. School was filled with lots of sporting events, sponsoring school clubs, watching his children grow up in the same school and spreading his love of history to the next generation.

He said, ""If you live in Colorado, you should know its history and pass it on"". That philosophy brought Chris to Four Mile Historic Park right after his retirement. He volunteered there for 31 years and worked his normal shift in the gift shop the day before he died. While at Four Mile, he became a docent, developed a training program for the staff, scheduled volunteers, taught school children to pan for gold, researched and developed exhibits and events. In addition, in 1992, he wrote ""Colorado and the Civil War"", a document for Four Mile education services.

At Four Mile he became a cookie man. This activity reflected back to the time, as a child, he came home from school and baked cookies with his mother. At Four Mile he would rustle up the wood cook stove in the summer kitchen, and baked batch after batch of cookies for special events. After moving to Meridian Assisted Living, he brought the front desk personnel cookies every night for their snack.

Chris loved to fish, but said he preferred catfish to trout, so fishing was better in lakes than in mountain streams. For years he participated with family on salmon fishing at the mouth of the Columbia River, canning the catch and sending it to South Dakota for winter use. Scandinavians need their fish, no matter where they live.

Once, asked in a newspaper interview, who he most admired in history, he said, ""If you were a Marine, they will say ‘Thank God for Harry Truman'. He ordered the dropping of the bomb and that saved millions of lives, on both sides, of World War II. He knew he'd be criticized but he had the courage to take action"".

Chris believed history was important for many reasons. ""When we look back, we see we might have been looking too closely at a problem, and passing time and changing times give us a different perspective. We must learn from the past and apply it to the present. If we do so, our world benefits from our efforts and if we don't learn from history, every historian knows, we must repeat it"".

Chris' life was full of many interests and activities. He was a member of the Masons and Eastern Star. He became a member of Wellshire Presbyterian Church in 1961 and ushered for Sunday services for 50 years.

One more thing about this calm, tolerant man; there was always a song in his head. He loved to dance and enjoyed music, especially Big Band and Swing. Last Christmas, during the bustle of dinner preparations, he sat in his chair, sleeping on and off and when awake, would sing carols to the family in his still clear voice that we all loved.

We salute the memory of this man, our husband, father and friend. May blessings be showered upon him and may God hold him in his hands.

 

 

Visitation: April 7, 2019 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Horan & McConaty - South Denver
1091 S. Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO 80246

Visitation: April 8, 2019 11:00 am

Horan & McConaty - South Denver
1091 S. Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO 80246

Funeral Service: April 8, 2019 12:00 pm

Horan & McConaty - South Denver
1091 S. Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO 80246

Graveside Service: April 8, 2019 2:15 pm

Fort Logan National Cemetery
3698 South Sheridan Boulevard
Denver, CO 80236
(303) 761-0117
https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/ftlogan.asp