On April 18, 2024, our amazing father, Oscar James Hendriksen, 94, left this life to join his sweetheart, Dorothy, after patiently enduring the painful effects of a hip fracture and age-related health declines. He was beloved as a father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle, brother, brother-in-law, neighbor, and loyal friend.
Dad was born in South Salt Lake on November 2, 1929, the eighth of eleven children born to Danish immigrants Oscar Peter and Kamilla Louise Olsen Hendriksen. He grew up during the Great Depression and learned self-sufficiency, frugality, and the value of hard work at a very young age. After neighborhood jobs such as pulling weeds and milking cows, his first official job was at the tender age of 8, when he became a milk bottle runner for a local dairy.
Music became important to Dad at a young age. He built his own crystal radio enabling him to listen to various broadcasts with an earpiece, without using electricity or disturbing his family. He loved to listen to music from Temple Square, especially the wonderful Salt Lake Tabernacle organ, which began his lifelong love for pipe organ music. As a young boy he had some piano and violin instruction and played baritone horn in his school band, but his singing voice became his most cherished instrument. He sang at church as a soloist and the youngest member of a male quartet, and in the Granite High School choirs.
In 1947, Dad's singing led him to meet the love of his life, Dorothy Kennard. Both had been invited to sing in the Message of the Ages pageant choir, part of the Utah Pioneer Centennial Celebration. Dad said he was quickly “smitten.” Mom said, "I chased him until he caught me." Shortly afterward, Dad was invited to audition for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and he later persuaded Mom to do the same. After their marriage in January of 1949, they were featured in the Deseret News as the youngest married couple in the Tabernacle Choir, along with another couple featured as the oldest married couple. They sang together both in and out of choir, performing often for weddings, funerals, and church meetings. They were always very loving and devoted to each other. Dad continued to show his adoration for our mother as he tenderly cared for her while she battled dementia in her final years until she passed away in April of 2011.
Dad and Mom raised eight children, Dad working the equivalent of two full time jobs for many years to keep food on the table and pay for piano lessons, which our parents considered a necessity. Dad served nearly 27 years as a Salt Lake City Police Officer, working in addition as a meat cutter for much of that time. His career with the SLCPD included work as a dispatcher, patrolman, traffic accident investigator, youth bureau, sex crimes investigator, and Lieutenant in command of the training division. Dad trained many officers to use firearms. He was a Smith & Wesson factory trained warranty gunsmith and came up with several fixes for issues he encountered while working on firearms which were patented to him. He later turned those patents over to his friends at Smith & Wesson, and Colt.
Dad earned an associate degree from Weber State College and was a graduate of the FBI National Academy. He served as president of both the Police Mutual Aid Association (PMAA) and the Utah Peace Officers Association (UPOA). He was an expert marksman, winning dozens of trophies and certificates at pistol matches, including some national records. He was proud of our mother, who was just as successful as a markswoman. Dad was heavily involved in planning, fundraising for, and building the PMAA Target Range in Parley's Canyon. The PMAA named the facility the Hendriksen Target Range in his honor. He supervised the operation and upkeep of the range for many years, including several years when he and the family lived there as operator and caretaker.
Our Dad was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, serving in many callings, including Executive Secretary to the Granite Stake President, Bishop of the Forest Dale Ward and Temple Worker in the Salt Lake and Jordan River Temples. His service with the Tabernacle Choir spanned more than 20 years. Dad also shared his talent by singing at hundreds of funerals as a kindness to bereaved friends, coworkers, and neighbors, and he was greatly sought out for his beautiful bass voice.
Dad loved the outdoors and enjoyed watching birds, wildlife, star-filled skies, camping and fishing. He was a great cook for the family, but also provided many delectable meals for ward parties, scout groups and family reunions. He could cook just as easily for two people or as many as 200, rarely using recipes.
Dad is survived by his adoring children Leslie Anderson (Sherman), Michael (Ruth), Daniel (Karen), Neil (Marie), Eric (Elaine), Mark (Judy), Elinor Sargent (John), and Laurel Palmer, 37 grandchildren, 89 great-grandchildren, two great-great grandchildren and one brother, John Herbert Hendriksen. He was preceded in death by his wife Dorothy, his parents, siblings Elisabeth Gardiner, Anna Brown, Elsie Arpke, Nora Beall, Mary Schultz, Karen Test, Martin Hendriksen, Joseph Hendriksen and Kathryn McCashland and 3 infant great-grandchildren, Samuel Peter Hendriksen, Lincoln Joseph Hendriksen and Jennifer Dastrup.
Funeral Services will be held on Friday, May 3, 11:00am at the Granger Ward meeting house, 2850 West 3835 South. Friends may call that day at the church beginning at 9:30am, or at a visitation on Thursday, May 2 from 6:00 to 8:00pm at Valley View Memorial Park, 4335 West 4100 South. The interment will be at Redwood Memorial Estates,6500 South Redwood Road.
Funeral Services Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/91406982673
The family wishes to express appreciation to the staff of Summit Senior Living, Meadow Peak Rehabilitation and Cascade Springs Hospice for their help and tender care. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests making a modest contribution in memory of Oscar J Hendriksen to the Eccles Organ Festival.
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