In honor of Elmer's 107th birthday today, here's a chronological review of where he and his family lived: he was a Utah boy, but moved around quite a bit within Salt Lake and Utah Valleys. On Memorial Day 2001, we took a family driving tour to see many of these heritage locations, thanks to my mother-in-law who researched everything from real estate records to city directories, and wrote up reminiscences and details shared below.
Elmer's parents Sigvart and Sarah Hooper Jensen married in Park City, and the Hoopers lived there at a house we tried to find a couple years ago (but need to find that address again).
Then the Jensen family moved to Salt Lake City: 535 Lowell Avenue (and also 547 Sherman Avenue from 1942 directory-?). Elmer grew up here with his siblings and a dog named Spot. They attended the SLC 2nd ward on 7th South and 500 East. Sigvart had a barber shop downtown at 942 11th E.
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| 535 Lowell Ave (from Zillow 2015) |
When Elmer and Agnes first married, like many newlyweds, they lived with his parents. Then they built a house in Payson and with their young family lived from 1935-1942 at 380 Main St.
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| Payson home in 2015 |
This house was built with help from cousins, and front details like the porch were added much later. Elmer was a distributor of the Tribune and Telegram newspapers in Utah County at the time, and would take papers to Elberta, Eureka, and Santaquin. The newspaper experimented with using messenger pigeons between Payson and Salt Lake at one point. A nearby park was fun for summertime picnics and parades, and the boys would sled down the hill in the winter. As World War II began, they planted a victory garden in the yard; due to the combination of poor eyesight which kept him out of the military and great math skills, Elmer worked for a time as a chemist at Geneva Steel. His mother Sarah was visiting them in 1942 when she died of a heart attack in the front right bedroom. On her trip there, the car had spun three times on the highway, and that fright may have contributed to her death.
The Jensen family next moved to Spanish Fork, to a home which is no longer standing, but faced 5th North. They lived here from 1942-46, and again tended their victory garden and chicken coops. The home was a brick two-bedroom with a basement where the children slept, and had a weeping willow tree in front, and a black cocker spaniel named Jeff. Elmer owned a Texaco gas station on Main Street and 3rd South in town.
After World War II ended, he bought a store in Salt Lake City: Jensen's Meats & Groceries at 1269 E 400 S. Elmer ran this Associated Grocers (AG) store with his nephew Grant Campbell and a butcher, Willard Billeter. As a friendly neighborhood store, they delivered grocery orders daily, using a delivery truck (and his son delivered small orders by bicycle). Elmer had a tiny little office in the back with a swivel chair, wore a white apron, and always had a pencil behind his ear and a pad and pen in his front apron pocket (see photo above).
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| Elmer's store |
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| in 2001 |
The Jensens then moved north to the Salt Lake area, playing musical houses: five moves in eight years. They first lived with Elmer's sister Thora Cozza at 942 S 1100 E briefly in 1946. They then moved to 1217 Crandall Avenue where they lived from 1946-47. This home had belonged to Elmer's sister LaVeryl Miller, who had moved to California.
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| 1217 Crandall Ave in 2001 |
They next moved to a home at 2500 Highland Drive from 1947-1951, where family and neighbors played games out front such as "Mother, May I?" and "red light-green light." The children attended Forrest School in Sugarhouse, not far from Milt and Leone's popcorn shop.
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| 2500 Highland Dr in 2001 |
The next move was a short but blissful period at 2850 E 5420 S Blue Spruce Drive in Holladay, from 1951-53. These four acres of lawn and forest, dirt roads, porcupines, skunks, and a dog named Frieda were full of space, friends and family gatherings, movies on the lawn, Easter egg hunts, and friendly socializing. Grandma Clara Hunter lived with the family here.
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| Blue Spruce home in 2001 |
From August 1953-December 1962, the Jensen family moved back to the home at 942 S 1100 E, where a pine tree on the front lawn had grown since its planting at my mother-in-law's birth. Widowed Sigvart had lived here with his daughter Thora until he died in April 1952. And Elmer himself sadly died only a month after moving back into this house. The children attended Emerson Elementary School and Roosevelt Junior High from this location, and the LeGrand Ward, Park Stake. Clara Hunter continued living with the family here until she died in 1956, and Agnes died here in 1961.
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| 942 S 1100 E in 2001 |
On the Hunter side, Agnes' grandmother Ellen James Williams lived at 2869 S 500 E; her husband Miles had left her three acres of land there which she divided amongst her children Clara, Nellie, Virgie, Cassie, Nettie, and Miles. Nettie moved to Canada and Miles didn't use his portion, but the others settled here and raised seventeen cousins close together, very poor but safe and relatively happy. Aggie grew up just south of this address above. The land backs onto Nibley Park and her sister Millie Cox (who later lived at 2929 S 700 E) recalled an exciting moment growing up, when a bear escaped from a traveling circus show and came into their yard one day.
Aggie's father Henry Hunter grew up at this home in American Fork with his parents William and Amy Calkin Hunter.
Aggie's father Henry Hunter grew up at this home in American Fork with his parents William and Amy Calkin Hunter.
We have deep roots spread in many Utah homes and locations!
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