Alice Bybee Rollins Sorensen

1917 - 2014

December 1, 1917 ~ June 16, 2014
Alice Bybee Rollins Sorensen stepped silently over the threshold to greet her family who had passed on before her, Monday June 16, 2014, at the age of 96. Alice was born to Oscar Whitaker Rollins and Zina Pearl Bybee on the 1st of December, 1917 "on a cold rainy day in the summer kitchen of the house her grandparents built" which was situated on a beautiful farm in Mountain Green Utah.
She was the first girl and one of twelve total children born to this busy farming family. She grew up helping her mother cook for a crowd-her large family and farm hands-and loved it. When she was very young she would come home from school where her mother gave her free reign of the kitchen to cook anything she wanted for the family's dessert, then went on to master other dishes from there. She thoroughly enjoyed taking 4-H classes where she acquired expert cooking and sewing abilities. Her talents have blessed generations of her family who now enjoy cooking or sewing anything from scratch as she did. Growing up she said that she was raised on the philosophy of "be honest in all things, truthful in all you say, help other people who are in need, work hard, and help parents to earn a living on the farm." She enjoyed a very happy childhood doing things like collecting eggs, watching silent movies, sleigh riding, picking chokecherries, camping, music lessons, singing in the school plays and lots of laughter to name a few. She attended Utah State Agricultural College on a 4-H scholarship, eventually earning an associate degree and was just four classes from a Bachelor's degree. Her first week of college she attended the freshman "Get Acquainted" dance where she met her future husband, who had "crashed the party with a roommate to see what the new crop of girls looked like." Two years later she married Royal H Sorensen at Christmastime 1938, in the Manti LDS temple. As a young married couple during the depression they learn to be very frugal to make ends meet, a trait that they carried with them throughout their lives. When WWII broke out Royal joined the military and Alice supported him while at home with their two small children. After the war they eventually made their home in Fresno, California where they raised their seven children. In 1978, they retired to Fruit Heights, Utah where they enjoyed gardening, and Alice loved learning to paint in art classes, sewing quilts, reading and listening to music. In 1985, they served an LDS mission in Tallahassee, Florida together and afterwards moved to St. George, UT where she continued her art classes, painting and sewing. She loved to travel and was fortunate to take many trips exploring the world with her husband and family, including hiking the John Muir trail, cruising through the Panama Canal and Alaska, visiting the Middle East and many other exciting places. She truly enjoyed a profound love for her pioneer heritage and really made an effort to pass this on to her children and grandchildren, passing on stories about their lives and adventures. She had a deep love for, and strong testimony of, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints her entire life, serving in many capacities that usually involved music. She was always so excited when family came to visit and would talk about how much she had enjoyed it for weeks afterwards. She was fiercely proud of her family and loved them dearly. Her greatest wish was to see them happy.
She is survived by her children Jerold (Rebecca) Sorensen of Fresno, CA; Maryann (Jim) Webster of SLC, UT; Steven (Claudia) Sorensen of Los Cabos, Mexico; Kristine (Marc) Stefano of Fruit Heights, UT; Deborah (Peter) Guerney of Seattle, WA; and Beverly (Alan) Knox of St. George, UT; 20 grand children, 42 great-grand children with three on the way; and two great-great-grand children. She is preceded in death by her husband, and daughter, Kathleen Kezerian.
Graveside services will be held Saturday, June 21, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. at the Mountain Green, UT Cemetery under the direction of McMillan Mortuary 435-688-8880. Condolences may be share at mcmillanmortuary.com