Ann Harenberg

Ann Jorgensen was born in Salt Lake City, UT on July 11, 1934 at the LDS Hospital to Henry James Jorgensen and Bardell Titus Jorgensen. She was named after her father’s sister Anna. She was the 2nd of 5 children, Jerry being the oldest then Ann, Larry, Karin, and Jay. Because Ann’s mother was suffering from Huntington’s Disease, she became like a second mother to her siblings, practically raising the two youngest.

Ann was always close to the spirit. When Ann was 11, she was bearing her testimony and thanked Heavenly Father for her baby sister who wasn’t even born yet. Remember, back then no one knew if they were going to have a boy or a girl. Then Karin was born.

Ann attended Forest Elementary School, Irving Jr. High school, and South High School. All in Salt Lake City, UT. She was part of the acapella and pep clubs in High School. She attended Brigham Young University in Provo, UT for 2 years from 1953 to 1955 majoring in psychology and commercial art. She loved school and had many friends.

In 1954 Ann met Gary Harenberg. After dating for 2 months Gary asked Ann to become his eternal companion and they were married May 20, 1955 in the Salt Lake Temple. They quickly became parents having first Randall Scott, Cristi Ann, Cindy and finally Ricky Lynn, all 14 months apart. She loved her children and had a “selective memory” when it came to how hard those younger years were with those babies so close together. She was the mother of 4, grandmother of 15, great-grandmother of 32.

Ann was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and served faithfully in many callings. One of the joys of her life was to serve as a Young Women’s Camp Director. Ann loved to go to girls' camp, teach first aid, cook over a campfire, and pulled about as many pranks as the girls. One year she even killed a rattle snake, cooked it in tin foil in the coals of the fire and everyone had an opportunity to sample it. She was fearless!

Ann loved to sing and had an amazing alto voice. She served by conducting many ward choirs and sang in ward and stake choirs, instilling a love of singing in her children. She served as a family history missionary for many years and loved it so much that she continued to volunteer even after she was released. She also enjoyed volunteering at the humanitarian center in Idaho Falls.

Ann had an amazing green thumb and loved to garden, planting vegetables, and sharing her harvest. She loved planting her flower beds and always kept them beautiful. She always had a lot of house plants that she loved taking care of.

Ann loved to crochet. You rarely found her without a crochet hook and yarn in her hands. She made dolls for many of her grandchildren and other family members. The last one being presented just 5 weeks before her passing. She also made many blessing dresses, booties, and blankets. She taught many people how to crochet. She crocheted until days before her passing.

Ann loved to travel and see new places with friends. She traveled to Hawaii with some of her children and she and Gary went on a Church History tour and other vacations with their friends the Beagley’s. She also loved to visit her family and friends as often as possible.

Ann lived through many great and terrible things. Some of those were WWII, Pearl Harbor, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the war currently on in the Middle East. The creation and destruction of the Berlin Wall, the assassination of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr., the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic. On the bright side, she witnessed the first satellite being launched into space, the moon landing and many other events relating to the exploration of space. She was alive when DNA and cloning were discovered, the first McDonald’s opened their doors, the home computer and the internet were invented, along with the cellular phone, Amazon, and Google.

Ann battled lung cancer for 6 years, but recently other health issues weakened her. We never heard her complain and she always had a positive attitude. We thought we’d have many more years with her but, Heavenly Father decided to bring his sweet daughter home on October 13th, 2020.

She was preceded in death by her mother, father, and all her siblings, each of them passing at an early age. She also lost her sweet eternal companion, Gary, in 2002. She was without him for 18 years and we know that she’s having an amazing reunion with him and her family.
She was our sister, aunt, mother, grandmother and great grandmother and she will be greatly missed.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, October 17, 2020 at Larkin Sunset Gardens Chapel, 1950 East Dimple Dell Road, Sandy, Utah. Interment to follow at Larkin Sunset Gardens Cemetery.