Date of Birth
June 25, 1941
Date of Death
August 29, 2023
Lance H. Christensen, age 82, of Campton Hills, passed peacefully on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, and was reunited with his wife, Maja, who passed in 2017.
Lance was the first child born to Henry and Elaine (Merriman) Christensen. He was born June 25, 1941 in Chicago, IL to what later grew to be a family of six with kids: Craig, Dona and Merry.
During Lance’s early years, the family moved six times before settling in the small town of Otsego, MI where they purchased a farmette close to the Otsego River. Pre-college, Lance and his brother Craig were work minded and not afraid to try all sorts of imaginative things such as building a rabbit “empire”, a pig “empire” and purchasing a 1946 truck and painting it red and black with Rust-Oleum paint. As a teen, Lance was outgoing and personable participating in all sorts of activities, such as debate and drama club. Lance was very social, during college years his younger brother Craig was known as “Lance’s brother”.
Lance attended Western Michigan University with a degree in Engineering. He then enrolled in ROTC and went to Germany where he saw Maja, who worked at an American Express office and later turned out to be his blind date. There was good fortune as that date later led to their marriage.
Returning to the States with his wife and the first of three children, Lance took a job testing missiles castings. When his boss was laid off, Lance followed him to the Postal Service which started a long career there. He helped build and remodel facilities all the while keeping contractor’s honest and keeping the motto, “Do you know how many stamps we need to sell to fund that?” in mind.
Eventually, Lance and his family settled in Seattle for twelve years where he loved to ski, play bridge (with The Bridge Group), sailing and taking visitors to Mount Rainier. Lance’s career later moved him to Chicago, where the family has lived in the St. Charles area for over 30 years.
Lance enjoyed life immensely. He loved people, food and travel. When traveling for work, he’d often take trips to see the local sights and rate his trip by how good the food was. As a kid, he loved to ride horses and according to his brother, Craig, could ride better than anyone around. He, along with all his siblings, grew up around the outdoors; water, fishing, and sometimes using a bow and arrow to snag a carp or two. As an adult, Lance looked forward to his annual fishing trip to visit Craig’s family in Ely, MN where the Christensen men would gather for some good old fashioned male bonding complete with Entenmann’s coffee cakes, Cheetos. M&Ms, LTD and fishing stories. He also loved mowing his almost two acre yard and doing vodka shots with his family and friends.
Lance continued to be active throughout his life being a part of the local Catholic church, going to grandkids games, driving to visit his daughter in Minnesota, and traveling with his family to Germany, Ireland and Alaska. Lance planned to live to be 100 and it was with surprise that his family found him passed away peacefully in his home.
Age was just a number to Lance and he proved it with the way he lived his life from one day to the next. It is that spirit that will permeate the memories he left for all to treasure.
Lance leaves three children: Svea (Claudio) Christensen-Ehinger and their daughter, Kylie Hosack-Ehlinger; Inga Christensen; Eric (Stephanie) Christensen and their children, Carter and Kendall Christensen; one brother, Craig (Penny) Christensen and their children, Amy (Vince) Opperman and son, Cole; his brother, Neal (Roxy) Christensen and their children, Lily and Logan; his sister, Dona (Sam) Drake and son, Bret (Stacey) Hornaday and their children, Hunter and Emily.
Lance was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Maja (von Brevern) Christensen; and sister, Merry (Richard) Damaske.
Visitation will be from 9:30-10:30 a.m., Wednesday, September 6, 2023, at St. Patrick’s Mission Catholic Church on Crane Rd. in St. Charles followed by Mass at 10:30 a.m. Cremation and a private burial will follow at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, friends are encouraged to donate to the Elburn Lions Club, mail checks to Elburn Lions Club, 500 Filmore St., Elburn, IL 60119. Memories and tributes may be shared on the Conley Funeral Home Facebook Page or at www.conleycare.com.
Visitation will be from 9:30-10:30 a.m., Wednesday, September 6, 2023, at St. Patrick’s Mission Catholic Church on Crane Rd. in St. Charles followed by Mass at 10:30 a.m. Cremation and a private burial will follow at a later date. In lieu of flowers, friends are encouraged to donate to the Elburn Lions Club, mail checks to Elburn Lions Club, 500 Filmore St., Elburn, IL 60119. Memories and tributes may be shared on the Conley Funeral Home Facebook Page or at www.conleycare.com.
Ruhe in Frieden Lanc ,
So wie ein Blatt vom Baume fällt,
so geht ein Mensch aus dieser Welt.
Die Vöglein aber singen weiter.“
Thinking of you and the family as you celebrate his beautiful life. Thinking of you and wishing you moments of peace and comfort as you remember someone who was so close to you. I hope your happy memories will help you through this difficult time.
~Thoughts and prayers from Amy Hughes and Family
He will be missed a lot…especially on Fridays when we used to have Salmon lunch with him and a glass of red wine, and a bike ride. He supported Salam Christian Fellowship with anything he could do. With Maja, he hosted Salam picnics in their two acre backyard . There, they once welcomed 30 refugees from 8 countries who enjoyed the grill and the potluck with members of St. Mark Lutheran, where Maja was a member. I used to call him my “Crusader Prince,” because he looked like that character who guarded the Holy Grail in the Indiana Jones movie (with late Sean Connery). RIP Lance. You were a Crusader for Christ.
He will be missed a lot…especially on Fridays when we used to have Salmon lunch with him and a glass of red wine, and a bike ride. He supported Salam Christian Fellowship with anything he could do. With Maja, he hosted Salam picnics in their two-acre backyard. There, they once welcomed 30 refugees from 8 countries who enjoyed the grill and the potluck with members of St. Mark Lutheran, where Maja was a member. I used to call him my “Crusader Prince,” because he looked like that character who guarded the Holy Grail in the Indiana Jones movie (with late Sean Connery). RIP Lance. You were a Crusader for Christ.
Eric,
I was so sorry to hear of your loss. He sure sounds like a wonderful soul who left his world a better place for his having been here. Peace
Just saw that Lance passed several months ago. Lance & I worked for over 20 years together at the Postal Service Facilities Department. He was on my Facilities Team and we traveled together to Michigan on many projects. The Obit described him to a T. We used to travel and go out to dinner where he’d eat me under the table as the saying goes and he would never seem to gain any weight. One of our memorable trips was the time we were in Detroit when a major power failure was experienced. We were out to dinner and he had just polished off a whole rack of ribs when the power went out – the restaurant had to close and they didn’t/couldn’t charge us w no power – Lance said that made the ribs taste that much better!! We then bought flashlights and went back to the hotel and sat in the dark where we flew planes on Microsoft Flight Simulator until my laptop battery died. Lots of good memories. I used to talk to him every year around Christmas time – he will be missed. John Vlcek.