LeNore was born on July 6, 1927 in Ithaca, New York where her father was attending Cornell University. She was the oldest of three girls. At that time they were among the few members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the East and her father served as Branch President. LeNore remembers Heber J. Grant, President of the church, visiting her father the day she was baptized! Her family eventually moved west to Reno, Nevada where her father taught at the University of Nevada. She became an accomplished pianist early in her life, and started playing for church meetings as a teenager. She met her husband, Darwin Knudsen, at BYU and they married on September 8, 1948. Darwin and LeNore raised their family of six in the East Mill Creek area of Salt Lake. They were blessed with four boys and two girls. Having “boys” introduced new experiences for LeNore such as scouting, camping, hunting and fishing, and wrestling in the living room.
In 1978 they moved to a beautiful home designed by Darwin on the last of the Knudsen property in the Cottonwood area of Salt Lake. There, on 4 acres of gardens and orchards next to Cottonwood creek, they had a wonderful picnic area and held many gatherings. The family has many fond memories of the scrumptious corn on the cob they provided for parties there, singing around the campfire, riding horses, and sailing down a zip line with extended family and friends. LeNore and Darwin loved have friends over to play games on cold winter nights.
LeNore graduated in Music from BYU where she studied with Gerrit de Jong, Jr., for whom the DeJong Concert Hall is named. She taught piano lessons for many years and accompanied hundreds of talented vocalists and instrumentalists. She was also an accomplished organist and played for church for over 60 years. In her later years, she would play the piano while her husband sang during the many programs they would perform for the Senior Citizen Homes, and Assisted Living Centers.
LeNore was a born teacher. She could teach anything well: how to give a talk at church, how to play the piano with feeling and emotion, how to clean a washbowl so that it sparkled, and how to sew a pattern to her two daughters.
She loved to read and would encourage her family to read by sharing passages from books that she felt had real meaning. She also loved to watch football and could cheer and yell with the best of them. We loved watching movies with mother for she cried, laughed, and lived the story.
Mother was a wonderfully cultured and talented woman and provided a welcoming and happy home for all her children. We love her dearly.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 20, 2015 at the Holbrook Mortuary, 3251 S. 2300 E., a viewing will be held prior to the funeral from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Interment: Wasatch Lawn.
The family wishes to express gratitude to those who cared so tenderly for LeNore at the Wentworth Assisted Living and Alta Ridge Memory Care Community.
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