Carl Christensen

1963 - 2025

Leo Carl Christensen

1963 - 2025

- Leo Carl Christensen passed away peacefully early Thursday morning in the arms of his eternal love, Sandra (Sandy) Ockey Christensen after a short battle with Stage 4 bile duct cancer. His last weeks were spent in the same way he lived his life, prioritizing family, working hard, and caring fully. With a laugh in his heart, an idea in his mind, and an ear first to others' problems, he quietly managed his own. Serving until the very end, he spent all his final moments carefully setting up his children for success and asking them to live their lives fully and not change because of his passing. His last words were asking permission from his love to pass before calmly falling asleep. Some go through life boldly and loudly and leave an immediate disturbance but not much else. Carl went through life peacefully focused on what he could control, with an attitude toward hard work, intellectual thought, and an understanding that anything is possible. His passing will be one that is felt with a quiet strength and frequent tremors because of just how much he made everything around him better simply by being a part of it. Carl was born in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, August 28, 1963 to Vernal and Euvonna Christensen. His dad had divorced and remarried, so he had an older brother, John, and a sister, Cleone, in North Salt Lake, as well as 5 siblings that grew up with him in Mt. Pleasant. His dad was a plumber, but he instilled in his kids a farmer's work ethic and a genius intellect. After graduating from North Sanpete High School in 1981, he attended Snow College, studying Chemical Engineering. He met his forever love in the chemistry lab at Snow. He was the lab assistant and she was the secretary for the head of the Chemistry department. Married September 10, 1983, in Mt Pleasant, they were eventually sealed for time and all eternity in the Manti Temple in July 1985. Carl graduated from Utah State University in 1988 with a BS in electrical engineering and two small children. For the next 30-40 years, every day was changing diapers, raising a child of every age group simultaneously and figuring out the best way to prioritize time and effort to make everyone know they were loved and important. Anyone who thinks they are good at time management has nothing on Carl and his 12 children. Kira, Neal, Kinsey, Kiyna, Nathan, Kiylee, Kacy, Kaylan, Nephi, Kate, Noah, and Kori. While his children are his biggest accomplishment, the 20 patents in his name are also evidence of his amazing intellect. Working first as an electronics technician, he graduated to FPGA Design Engineer although he was more comfortable just calling himself an Electronics Design Engineer. His kids called him an inventor, some of his coworkers lovingly called him the mad scientist. Working primarily for defense contractors, he invented cutting edge technology used to protect our country. Most of his accomplishments will never be known by the world because of the classified nature of his work, but his kids look forward to adding many more patents to his already declassified ones as his legacy lives on both in protecting soldiers or, enabling communication and media. Anyone who knew Carl, knew he was an intelligent man, knowing that his team was trusted directly to fully invent projects that cost hundreds of millions of dollars just to see if something was feasible. This puts a very different light on how special his mind was. A hardworking man, he was rarely found without a project in front of him, from gardening to any handyman project, car repair, church service, boy scouts, girl scouts, every children's game, helping with homework, reading a children's book, welding, wiring, framing, laying tile, anything electrical, blessing, teaching, listening, caring, loving, or sound engineering to find the perfect angle for the speakers from which to hear the crisp strum of a guitar while taking a rare moment to relax and watch Eddie and the Cruisers 2. With 12 children you might think that Dad's time would be sparse, but it never felt that way. Every emergency, whether real or imagined, he was the first one there and he solved them all. He always found time to prioritize children's sports, travel, church, communication, and always- always time for a story. Usually one full of laughter with large motions, silly voices, maybe a funny face, and definitely underlying wisdom. Sometimes the wisdom went over our heads, especially that one where a puppy died. We teased him about that one up until his final weeks. A man of infinite patience and no regrets, he lived a full life and will patiently wait on the other side for his wife to join him in "hopefully 30 years." There are probably some big projects he can work on while the time passes. Carl had a constant and abiding testimony of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He never doubted God's truth and his faith showed through in everything he did. He loved his current calling of Elders Quorum Secretary, but his favorites were Cubmaster and nursery leader. He became a master builder of pinewood derby cars and his knowledge helped many of his kids win 1st place. This great man spoke frequently of other's accomplishments and rarely of his own, but he will be greatly missed by his many friends and large family. The world has a lot of extra work to do to make up for the loss.

Carl is survived by his loving wife of 42 years, Sandy, all 12 of his talented children, Kira (Paul) Pedroza, Neal (Lindsey) Christensen, Kinsey Christensen, Kiyna (Andrew) Twisdale, Nathan Christensen, Kiylee (Jay) Davis, Kacy Christensen, Kaylan (Brayden) Allred, Nephi, Kathryn, Noah, and KoriAnne Christensen. Carl's many siblings, Cleone (Gary) Jensen, Lorrie (Martin) Maughan, Mike (Julie) Christensen, Jennifer (Rodger) Johansen, Greg (Jen) Christensen, and Camille Bauer. He also claimed Sandy's siblings as his own, Laurie (Glen) Alder, Jim (Naimah) Ockey, Gary (Emiko) Ockey, Melanie (Scott) Wiersema, Deb (Layne) Larson, Randy (Natalie Ockey, Amy (Brian) Schuster, as well as his father-in-law, John Ockey. He was blessed with 18 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren with 3 more granddaughters due in December, one for Kira and Paul and two for Kiyna and Andrew. He was excited to join his parents and grandparents, brother (John) and two tiny grandsons, (Oliver and Calder). He looked forward to serving this new mission on the other side of the veil. His only regret was leaving his sweetheart, kids, grandkids, and his team at L3-Harris.

He will be buried in the South Jordan Cemetery. A viewing will be held in his honor on Tuesday, September 9, 2025 at the Parkway Stake Center (9894 South 2700 West) from 6:00-8:00pm. Another viewing will be held on September 10, 2025 (Carl and Sandy's 42nd anniversary) from 9:00-10:45am. The funeral will begin at 11:00, all in the Parkway Stake Center. Streaming will be available. Thank you so much to the many friends, neighbors, and family members who have brought food, hugs, and love. And a special thank you to Huntsman at Home for their care and dignity during his last 10 days. Jenkins-Soffe has also been amazing and we are especially grateful for his friends and co-workers at L3-Harris. To leave online condolences and to view the livestream, please visit www.jenkins-soffe.com.