Geraldine (Geri) Christensen Harrison passed away peacefully at her home in Laupahoehoe, Hawaii, on Wednesday, Aug. 22, with her son Chris by her side. Internment will be at a date to be announced at the Taylor Cemetery. She was born April 27, 1924, in Central, Ariz., to Victor Christensen and Sarah Jane Butler. She was the third of 13 children. She grew up in the Gila Valley, moving to Safford when her dad was elected Graham County Sheriff in her junior year. She graduated from Safford High School in 1942. Many of her friends were leaving to fight in World War II. She attended Gila Junior College and in 1943 attended college in Tempe. The following summer she went to Brigham Young University where she met Jack Harrison who had just come home from Germany. They were married on Aug. 9, 1945, in Safford and sealed for time and eternity in the Arizona Temple on March 17, 1946. Their first home was in Los Angeles, Calif., where her husband was in optometric school. Because her mother couldn’t come to California, Geri travelled to Safford where she had her first child, Naomi. They moved to Provo, Utah, where she lived most of her married life. In Provo she was blessed with three more children, Dorothy Evelyn, John Eugene and Victor Chris. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, serving in a variety of callings. She loved the Church and had a strong testimony. She enjoyed learning about her ancestors and was very involved in genealogy. She always lived a life of serving others. A highlight of her life was when she won the TV show Queen for a Day in February of 1948 asking for a suit for her husband to wear when he graduated from the Los Angeles School of Optometry. She won several things, but the most special was the trip to Iron Mountain, Mich., to the National Ski Jumps where she received the key to the city. She was very involved in the Provo Community serving as Chairman of the Polio Drive (March of Dimes), president of the Woman’s Auxiliary to Utah Optometric Association and PTA president. She was the safety chairman for the Utah Optometric Association, which gave her the opportunity to attend as president of the US Traffic Safety Seminar for four years. She received the Carol Lane Merritt Award and worked with the National Lawyer-Layman Association. In 1963 she was a member of the Utah Symphony Guild and chairman of the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast. She was divorced in 1968, becoming a single mother who had always been a housewife. She went back to school at BYU and graduated with a degree in teaching. She ran for Utah State Legislature in 1968, but didn’t win. She them moved to Tempe and taught 3rd grade for 20 years at Edison Elementary in Mesa, from 1969 to 1989. She traveled throughout the world making friends wherever she went, learning their genealogy before her conversation was over. After retiring she moved to Taylor to be closer to her children. In Taylor she was a member of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and volunteered often to give tours at her great-grandmother Margaret Hancock McCleve’s log Cabin for the Taylor-Shumway Heritage Foundation. She loved her family and lived to serve them. She is survived by her children, Naomi Hatch of Taylor, Dorothy Evelyn Harrison of Glendale, John (Ann) Harrison of Rose, Okla., and V. Chris (Theresa) Harrison of Laupahoehoe, Hawaii; sisters, Betty Cook, Carol Shupe, Rose Shumway and Joy Jones; brothers, Gary Christensen and Jim Christensen; 19 grandchildren; 50 great-grandchildren; and 19 great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Beth Ellsworth, Jane Theobald, Colleen Christensen and Careen Christensen; brothers, Phil and Lot Christensen; a grandson, John Robert Harrison; and great-grandsons, Casey Joseph Anderson and Jonathan Daphinee.
