Rachel Hale Christensen

Early the morning of June 11, 2024, Rachel Hale Christensen—beloved wife, mother, and grandmother—was called home to her Father in Heaven. She was reunited with her husband, Jack; her two sons, Wayne and Wes; her parents; her five brothers and a sister and countless family and friends. Rachel was born—the sixth of seven children—on January 17, 1927, in Oakley, Idaho, to Rosel and Jane Hale.

Mama had a wonderful childhood. She told us about ice skating on the canal in the winter and having so much fun in the South Hills during the summer. She acted in two or three plays in high school and was a great fan of high school sports. At bedtime, she would tell us memories of her childhood, and we came to know her as a little girl. We loved those stories and never tired of hearing them again and again.

After high school graduation, she went to live with her sister, Marva, at the Beehive House in Salt Lake City. That was a wonderful time, and it was while she was living there that World War II ended. She later began attending BYU and there met a handsome fellow from Las Vegas named Jack Christensen. One Saturday, she was mopping the hallway outside her apartment when in walked Jack with a couple of other fellows coming to visit some girls in another apartment. Mama contrived to mop them into a corner so they couldn’t escape, and the rest is history. They were married in the Idaho Falls Temple on September 11, 1947.

They made their home in Twin Falls, Idaho, had four wonderful children and lived happily ever after. Daddy was an architectural draftsman and mama was a dedicated piano teacher, who also baked the best homemade bread on earth. They were very active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in several various callings. They later served together in the Kentucky Louisville Mission.

Mom was preceded in death by her husband, Jack Christensen; her sons, Joseph Wayne and Wesley Hale; her brothers Ballard, Edsel, Quentin, Kent and Rodney Hale; and her sister, Marva Hale Chambers. After Jack’s death in January 2000, she met and married Keith Cunningham in July 2001. He died in November 2020.

She is survived by two daughters, Leigh C. Knudson (Jeffrey) and Kathryn C. Hale. She has six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

We are so grateful for the kindness and care shown to mom by the staff at The Gables in Idaho Falls, Idaho, an assisted living center where she lived for nearly two years.

A viewing will be held at 10 am on Friday, June 21, at Wilks Magic Valley Funeral Home, 2551 Kimberly Road, Twin Falls, Idaho, 83301. A grave side service will follow at 11 am at the Twin Falls Cemetery.

We love and miss you, mama, but we know you are young again and happy, surrounded by those you love in a wonderfully beautiful place!

Memories and condolences may be shared with the family in the guestbook section below.