Jennifer Sorensen

JENNIFER J. SORENSEN IDAHO FALLS, ID -- After a courageous battle against leukemia, Jennifer Jean Hill Sorensen passed away on October 30, 2003, with her husband and her mother at her bedside in the University of Utah Medical Center. She was born May 8, 1976, to Howard G. and Jan Hill. She spent the first twelve years of her life in the Woodville/Shelley area. Jennifer attended elementary school in Shelley, and South Bonneville Junior High and Hillcrest High School in Idaho Falls. She was awarded a scholarship to attend the Barbizon School of Modeling in Salt Lake City. She took the usual dancing and music lessons, and discovered she loved to perform. To use her love of singing, she joined the local Sweet Adeline Chorus and she loved performing on the risers with her mother and grandmother, who were also members of the chorus. In the fall of 1993, Jennie moved to Seattle with her mother and sister. While living in Seattle, Jen was signed by the Sunny Shae Modeling agency and she was sent to locations to work as an extra in films being shot in the area, and she also did work for local department store promotions and fashion shows. After graduating from high school in Seattle, she accepted a live-in nanny position for a family in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. After a year or so she moved to Abilene, Texas and then to Germantown, Maryland. Upon her return to Idaho Falls, she accepted a position as Health and Safety Administrator for the local Red Cross office. She learned to love that type of work and she took advantage of all the classes and training that they offered and she was soon certified to teach Community First Aid and CPR, as well as classes for the professional paramedics. She also took special training and became a certified phlebotomist. She met Mark Sorensen in the spring of 1998 and after a short courtship, Jennifer and Mark were married on November 27, 1999 and they lived in Pocatello where Jennifer set up housekeeping for them and continued to work for the Red Cross. She began volunteering at Aid for Friends in Pocatello, and was quickly asked to become a permanent employee. She loved to do craft projects and became involved for a time with craft shows and selling her items through local boutiques. She loved to cook and to try new recipes, and she always enjoyed making her signature recipe-Coke Salad. Jennifer took pride in making a home for her own family and loved creating a beautiful space for herself and her husband. She enjoyed traveling, camping, playing golf, and spending time with her family. She always had a dearly loved pet of some kind or another. Her sense of adventure and fearless drive would allow her many wonderful experiences. Her greatest joy and sense of accomplishment came when her son, William Rece Conrad Sorensen was born on August 29, 2002. She loved this little boy more in the 14 months she had with him than some parents do in a lifetime. Even during her most painful days, Jennie could muster a smile for him, or even when he was just spoken of, her eyes would light up and you could see that some, even if only a small amount, of her discomfort was alleviated by the thought of him. Survivors include her husband, Mark Sorensen and son, Rece, of Pocatello, Idaho; her parents, Howard Hill (Julie) and Jan Hill-Hancock (Garen) of Idaho Falls; brothers, Brent Hill, Blackfoot, Darren (Fawnette) Hill, Bakersfield, California, Chris (Heidi) Kasper, Idaho Falls, Hic (Heather) Petersen, Seattle, Washington, Jeff Hill, Pocatello and sisters, Lisa Rae Hill, Missoula, Montana, Teresa (Jeff) Hammer, Pocatello, Angie Hill, Idaho Falls, Brandy (LeRoy) Eckman, Inkom, and Stayce (Jerry) Kneebone, San Jose, California. Grandparents, Mabel (Jerry) Weaver, Idaho Falls, and Jo Sundberg, Scottsdale, Arizona. Jennifer will be greatly missed by the numerous cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, friends and family whose lives she deeply touched. A trust fund has been established in her name at the Wells Fargo Bank to help her family defray the cost of her final expenses. She was preceded in death by two grandfathers, a grandmother and a step-sister. Funeral Services will be a 11 a.m. Thursday, November 6, 2003, at the Wood Chapel of the Pines, 273 N. Ridge. The family will meet with friends and family on Wednesday from 7-8:30 p.m. and Thursday for one hour prior to the services, both at Wood Funeral Home, 273 N. Ridge. Burial will be in the Archer-Sutton Cemetery.