Riverton High students remember former band instructor

As Heather Christensen conducted Riverton High's marching band years ago, two youngsters ran up and down the stands clanking back and forth.

Instead of being banned from the practice field, Chad Wilson said the young conductor pulled him and his twin brother, Matt, aside and asked if they would march with her someday.

Even though Christensen passed away Saturday night in a bus crash in Idaho as she was riding home with the American Fork High School Band, Chad Wilson said they still march with her.

Riverton High alumni and current students who remember the 33-year-old band director held flickering candles with shaking hands Sunday evening, recalling how their favorite teacher inspired them in music, matters of the heart, and much, much more.

"There's not just one word that describes her," said Crysi Wilson, Chad and Matt's older sister who was band president when Christensen directed at Riverton High. "That's why she's called 'spandiferous' — it just means something you can't describe fully. It's a word we made up for her."

And according to several students, it's just the sort of term that fit the teacher, well known for coming up with "bandimony" after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' practice of giving testimony in church meetings and "talking to the squirrels" — otherwise known as prayer.

Students "talked to the squirrels" one last time in Christensen's memory on the lawn outside Riverton High with a flag bearing heartfelt words and memories about their teacher in the background.

Christensen was the assistant band director at American Fork High School. The band was returning competition when the driver of Christensen's bus blacked out and Christensen attempted to grab the wheel and steer the bus away from a ditch. The school bus rolled and Christensen was thrown out a window. She died on scene Saturday night.

Even students Christensen never taught payed their respects during the candlelight vigil.

"It's amazing that one woman can affect everyone she runs into," Chad Wilson said. "She made me feel part of the band, even if I was just a little kid running around."

"I want to be just like her," he said.

Christensen began teaching when Riverton High opened in 1999, but instead of teaching with sternness, she made the students laugh by always having a story and a smile for them.