American Fork band instructor is laid to rest

The American Fork High School Marching Band made its second visit of the year to Delta Saturday.

Each year, Delta High School is the site of the band's annual summer camp. Saturday, only a few blocks from the school, band members played their final tribute for Heather Christensen, the woodwind instructor who had been hailed as a hero at her funeral earlier in the day in American Fork.

With the final strains of taps ringing in their ears, band members and Christensen's family stepped forward singly or in groups to lay a tribute of flowers or band gloves on her casket. Chuckles broke the silence when a group of woodwind players came forward to place Smarties candies among the tributes.

"She would give us Smarties and tell us to be smart," said one clarinet player.

It was one more tribute to the 33-year-old assistant band director who died on Oct. 10 when a charter bus returning from a band competition in Pocatello swerved off the road near McCammon, Idaho. Witnesses said Christensen was trying to grab the wheel of the bus after the driver had blacked out. She was the only one who died in the bus crash.

Speaking at her funeral in the Alpine Tabernacle in American Fork, Elder Bruce C. Hafen of the Quorums of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints praised Christensen.

"Her heroic actions protected many young men and women from terrible injuries and death," said Elder Hafen, who told the audience he had two grandchildren in the American Fork High School Band and one on the bus that crashed. "With all of you, we ache and we mourn that we lost Heather, whose life was so full of promise. We also rejoice at her life. The way she lived it and the way she gave it will stand as a shining example to all of us."

Elder Hafen said he had lost an older brother in an automobile accident, an experience that affected him deeply.

"For the rest of your lives, the veil will always feel closer to you who knew her than it did before. You will find yourselves thinking, I hope, 'Heather, I won't let you down,' " he said.

Family members remembered Christensen's exuberance.

"Heather's whole life was a celebration," said her sister, Jana Hogenson. "There was always something to look forward to when she showed up. I don't think any of us realized the impact she had on so many people."

In a moving musical tribute, band members formed an honor guard outside the tabernacle and performed the "Band of Brothers" theme from this year's band field show, a tribute to World War II veterans called "The Greatest Generation" as the pallbearers carried the casket to the waiting hearse.

At the Delta City Cemetery, with tears streaming down their faces, members repeated the theme.

e-mail: mhaddock@desnews.com