While the Howells family had owned properties in the South West Temple Street neighborhood for many years, the Christenson family did not move into their rented home in the Farmers Ward until 1924, locating at 1879 South Main Street, just one block east of the Howells residence.
The Christenson’s had experienced some remarkable economic times, which had placed them in prosperous circumstances. Grandpa Christenson, a gifted teacher and educator, had received advanced training in Europe. He was a former BYU professor of languages, and also had served as Ricks College President, in Idaho. However, he was a dreamer with lofty entrepreneurial ambitions. Due to unforeseen financial conditions, set backs had recently occurred, lean times had now set in, and significant adjustments had become necessary. A revealing chronicling of these events is found in Lucile C. Tate’s biography of her father, Andrew B. Christenson, Mormon Educational Pioneer, and recounts the staggering financial difficulties resulting from loss of the 1,010 acre Starr Ranch, near Mona, Utah. 13
Additionally, the following excerpts from Dad’s handwritten personal history concerning these traumatic times offer further useful insights:
....I don’t know how father managed. I’m sure he was deeply discouraged and for a time there was little to do except borrow from friends. He was gone a great deal. For a time he took a position as advisor and principal in a school down south, and the money he made pulled us through. We, the older children, began to look for jobs–Sheldon in a restaurant; I, in a mine in Farmington Canyon; Edythe waited on tables, and longed to go east and advance her musical training. We made out. Our affairs improved, and father by some means managed to acquire a big home on South Main Street into which we soon moved, and which would be the most significant home in my life, and I think in our family’s history. It was from this place that Edythe, Sheldon, and I found our life’s companions. It was from the Farmers Ward that first I, and later Sheldon, would go on missions. 14
Once relocated to the new neighborhood, Dad continued the story of his and Mom’s early acquaintanceship in the Farmers Ward, in his brief autobiographical record:
It was while living in Salt Lake City and going to school at the University of Utah that I first met Ann Howells, a popular member of our ward’s younger set. We were in a Mutual play together, and our friendship blossomed into love. I was called on a mission to Germany in 1925, and after my farewell party in the ward, I sat on the porch with Ann while the [ward house] almost burned down. A thief had broken into the chapel hoping to find money donated for my mission expenses, and had dropped a match which started the blaze. 15
Dad received a call to serve in the Swiss/Austrian-German Mission, where he served from 3 July 1925 to 31 January 1928. At his missionary farewell-testimonial on Friday, 19 June 1925 at the McKinley Ward building (formerly Farmers Ward), Mom sang a solo. Dancing followed the program. 16
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