Garr Dee Christensen

Garr Dee Christensen was born Nov 9, 1923 in Richmond to Leonard and Alta Loretta Nilson Christensen. Garr was a veteran of World War II and co-creator of the Freedom is Not Free veterans monument. Garr served as the first Bishop of the Richmond 1st Ward. 

Early Life

Garr was raised on the Christensen farm, passed down from his grandfather, Peter Christensen. Garr was raised his whole childhood in Richmond, attending school at Park Elementary and North Cache High School. While in North Cache, Garr met Maxine Karren. The two were married Nov 12, 1942, six months after graduating.

After his military service, Garr continued working on the family farm, making it his full time carrer.1

Military Service

Garr Dee Christensen enlisted into the United States Army on January 11, 1945. At the time of his enlistment, only Japan was fighting in World War II.

"We were out on patrol one day and looked down the trail. Two Japanese soldiers were waving a white flag. We took them prisoners. ...The two prisoners had a can with a dog head in it they planned to eat. They were hungry. The Japanese could get no supplies to them because our Navy and Army corps sunk all their ships with food and supplies.

"The Japanese soldiers would run around a lot at night. That caused a lot of excitement. Many were killed by our booby traps and small arm fires. I must have done something right in the Army because in August I was made a platoon sergeant, probably a battlefield promotion. And then the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, bringing the war with Japan to an end. 

"However, the Japanese kept fighting, not knowing the war was over. No way to get communications to the Japanese in the jungles, many Japanese soldiers were killed after the war ended. We loaded up on a ship in Deboa Harbor and headed for the homeland of Japan. 

"...When we went ashore there wasn't a Japanese person in sight. They were told we would kill them all, so they hid. Two or three days later, they knew we weren't going to kill them. They came out of hiding.

"They were starving and begging for food. They would fight over the garbage from our kitchen. Most of the cities were leveled by our bombs. It was mass destruction. We were there to destroy all Japanese military guns and equipment and to release and rescue our prisoners of war. They were in bad condition, starving, needing medical assistance.

"I believe the Japanese people were glad the war was over. I spent the next months traveling by boat and train in Japan gathering more American prisoners. ...One day on parade ground, Colonel called me in front, laid his hand on my shoulder and said if every man had the moral convictions that I had, we wouldn't be having this problem. They all knew I was LDS, so that was a tribute to me and our church. This was in front of 1,000 men. 

"In June [1946] after being overseas for a year, I got my release from the Army because I was sick and had to have took my tonsils out and hernia surgery."1

Agriculture

Early Farming Life

"My dad was a farmer. He always was running threshing machines, and he was a hard worker. But being a farmer, there was always plenty of work to do. My duties were to get the coal and wood in the house, milk the cows hook up the horses every day, and clean out the barn, and get straw. Seemed like everything was done the hard way. In the winter, our barn was warmer than our house. We would hurry up to the barn to get warm. The cows could keep the barn warm. 

"We did all our farming with horses. I was glad to see the tractor come. Gypsies used to come here in town. They always wanted to work."1

Taking Over The Farm

For the first few years after their marriage, Garr and Karen lived with Garr's parents on the farm. In 1944, Garr constructed a small home on the farm. They lived in the home until Garr's father died in 1956, when Garr took over the farm, and his family moved into the pre-existing home that his father built. However, Maxine did not want it to be a two-story home, so Garr renovated it, removing the second story, adding more rooms, and built it with brick.1

Soil Conservation

In the 1960s, Garr, along with Calvin Williams Funk and other members of the Richmond Irrigation Company, began the work of replacing their ditch irrigation and pioneering the way for northern Cache County to adopt gravity-fed sprinkler irrigation. It took about 10 years of work, but by 1976, Garr had been honored as an "Outstanding Cooperator" by the North Cache Soil Conservation District.

Church Service

Garr lived nearly his whole life in the Richmond North Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where he served as a Ward Clerk before 1977.

On July 10, 1977, after an extreme growth in Richmond's population, the Richmond North and South wards of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were divided into three wards, with each ward referred to by number rather than cardinal direction: Richmond 1st Ward, 2nd Ward, 3rd Ward. The Richmond 1st Ward was organized with Garr Dee Christensen as Bishop, Lynn S. Christensen (no relation) as First Councilor, and Richard B. Campbell as Second Councilor.

"Dad ... was here on the farm somewhere digging a hole, and the stake president stopped and asked Mom where Dad was, and she told him. And he went up there, and Dad, was covered with mud and the stake president said, 'You've been called to be the new bishop.' And he said, 'Oh, there's a big mistake.' But he was a good bishop. He loved that."1

Garr also served as Stake Missionary and High Councilman for the Benson and Richmond Stakes.2

Veterans Monument

While reading the 1976 history book, History of Richmond, Utah, Garr noticed that the veterans were hardly mentioned in it and decided that a memorial dedicated to the veterans of Richmond should be honored.

"Surely a few young men and women who went off to war leaving loved ones who knew their lives were in danger, should be a part of the history of Richmond."

Garr gathered a memorial committee team, including veterans Gale Alvey (Korea), Norman Stockton (Vietnam), Dean Hicken (World War II), and Richmond City Council Member Leslie Erickson. They gathered funds, primarily through spaghetti dinners. By Nov 2001, the committee had gathered enough funds to build the monument.3 The Freedom is Not Free Monument was dedicated on June 1, 2002, just six months before Garr's death.

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