Ellinor Lillian Helen Hanssen Sorensen

1926 ~ 2018

Ellinor Sorensen, 91, of Salt Lake City, died April 13, 2018, in her home surrounded by her loved ones after a brief illness.

Ellinor was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, into a family that was already members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She attended school and apprentice school in Denmark, graduating with high marks. After graduating, she worked as a shoe maker, stitching intricate and artistic designs into the leather. She lived in Copenhagen throughout the harrowing times of the Nazi occupation during World War II.

Shortly after the end of the War, in 1946 she and her parents immigrated to the United States, moving immediately to Salt Lake City. Her upbringing in the LDS church encouraged her and her parents to move to Salt Lake to be closer to the center of the Church. She soon met her husband of 71 years and married in the Salt Lake Temple in 1947. She was always active in the church, serving in many positions in the primary, relief society and other areas. In addition to being a full-time mother, she studied to become a certified genealogist specializing in Scandinavian history. She developed her own business in that capacity for more than 20 years and was widely respected for her work.

She is survived by her four children, Russell (Rosemary) Sorensen, Peter (Jodie) Sorensen, Robert (Jane) Sorensen and Carol (Blake) Tillotson. She has fourteen grandchildren and many, many great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, LaMar, and by her parents.

Funeral services will be held at 12:00, noon, on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at the Valley View 3rd Ward Chapel, 1925 E. Gunderson Lane. Friends may call at the Ward Chapel beginning at 10:30 on Tuesday morning. Interment will be at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.