Cheryl Christensen Lee

SHE LEFT THE WORLD BRIGHTER

Cheryl Christensen Lee, age 82, completed her mortal journey on September 18, 2026, at 3:38 p.m., surrounded by the family who loved her. Her life was filled with family, learning, service, adventure, and color. The world is brighter because she was here.

Cheryl was born on February 16, 1944, in her parents’ bedroom in Elsinore, Utah, to George Oliver Christensen and Mildred Henrie Christensen. Her parents originally planned to name her Sally until a neighbor gave that name to a new puppy. Thankfully, they reconsidered, and Cheryl received a name all her own.

She grew up on a farm in Elsinore, affectionately known as “Little Denmark,” with her older brother, Fondd Oliver Christensen. Much later, two younger brothers, Coy and Terry, joined the family. Terry died while still a toddler, and Cheryl carried a tender love for him throughout her life.

Her childhood was filled with mud pies, boats floating down irrigation ditches, dolls, marbles, hopscotch, hide and seek, farm animals, milking cows, and weeding sugar beets. She sometimes drove a tractor to church, proving that in Elsinore a tractor could serve as perfectly acceptable transportation.

As a young girl, Cheryl had an exceptional talent for memorizing and presenting readings and recitations. She won awards, including a Farm Bureau talent competition, and was encouraged to continue beyond state competitions. She also played the piano and clarinet. Music remained an important part of her life and home, including the treasured Kimball piano.

After graduating from South Sevier High School, Cheryl moved to Salt Lake City to continue her education through Brigham Young University. While attending BYU, she met William Edward “Bill” Lee Jr., who had recently returned from serving a Church mission.

Cheryl and Bill were married on December 19, 1964, in the Manti Utah Temple. Their temple covenants became the foundation of the large and lively family they built together. They welcomed eight children and created a home filled with work, faith, laughter, learning, and very few truly quiet moments.

Over the years, Cheryl’s varied work included Primary Children’s Hospital, the Utah State Archives, the Utah State Tax Commission, Alpha Beta, and Avon, just to name a few. She also cared for neighborhood children to help support her family. Later, Cheryl and her children spent nearly ten years rising around five o’clock in the morning to deliver newspapers together.

Together, Cheryl and Bill created a busy, lively home filled with camping, sailing, travel, Church activities, family gatherings, and the ordinary moments that became treasured memories.

Cheryl was never content to stop growing. She loved books and the ideas and friendships she found in her book group, but her curiosity reached far beyond the pages she read. She asked questions, pursued new interests, and was willing to become a beginner again and again. Whether exploring family history, learning a traditional skill, helping someone else learn, traveling somewhere unfamiliar, or beginning a creative project, Cheryl met life with openness and initiative. She showed her family that becoming is the work of a lifetime.

Cheryl loved to travel. Her adventures took her through Europe, Mexico, Canada, and Hawaii, and she crossed the United States from coast to coast several times. She welcomed new places, new people, and the stories each journey allowed her to bring home.

One of Cheryl’s proudest experiences was serving a mission with Bill among the Apache people. She loved people, loved conversation, and loved sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Cheryl’s devotion to Jesus Christ was expressed most clearly in the way she lived. She prayed, served, taught, honored her covenants, and treated family relationships as something sacred and eternal. The gospel gave her direction in ordinary days and hope during difficult ones. That same hope now brings comfort to those who love her.

Cheryl also loved color. She was not one to leave the world beige if she could help it. Her flowers, colorful boxes, arrangements, and cheerful touches brightened the places around her. The beloved Church hymn “Scatter Sunshine” became a fitting description of her life. Through her testimony, service, curiosity, laughter, and love, Cheryl left a little light wherever she went.

During her later years, dementia gradually clouded some of Cheryl’s memories, but it could not erase who she was. It could not erase her faith, her covenants, the family she built, the people she served, or the love she gave. When Cheryl could no longer remember every story, her family remembered for her.

Cheryl is survived by her brother, Fondd Oliver Christensen; her eight children, William Christensen “Bill,” Becky Lynn (Crofts), Jeffrey Scott, Julie Ann (Spencer), Cheryln (Gibbs), Amy Elizabeth (Barton), John Edward, and Marci Suzanne; 36 grandchildren; and 27 great grandchildren, with one more little blessing on the way.

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, William Edward Lee Jr.; her parents, George Oliver Christensen and Mildred Henrie Christensen; and her brothers, Terry and Coy Christensen.

Mom’s greatest legacy was not simply the life she lived, but the love she gave so freely and the way she made each of us feel seen, valued, and deeply loved. Her family was her joy, and the generations who follow her will carry her kindness, strength, faith, and laughter forward. Though we will miss her presence, her love remains woven into all of us, a lasting blessing that will continue to grow, just as she did in the hearts of everyone who knew her.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. in the West Bountiful 6th Ward chapel, located at 1750 North 900 West, West Bountiful, Utah 84087. A viewing for family and friends will begin at 9:00 a.m. at the same location. Following the funeral service, family and friends will travel to Elsinore, Utah, where a graveside service and interment will be held.

In honor of Cheryl’s memory, open a book, learn something new, fill a flower box with color, call someone who needs a friend, share your testimony, take an adventure, and scatter a little sunshine along the way.