The Jensen Family

Little Norma Jensen, age 5

Sverre Jensen (Norma's Father), first generation to ski at Brighton

Five Generations at Brighton

     Norma Henny Jensen Child, my mother, is from Norway. She could ski before she could walk. Of course, her parents skied. My grandparents immigrated to Utah, to help build up "Zion" for the Church.  My grand-father used to joke that they stayed because Utah reminded them so much of Norway.

     In the summers, my grandparents brought the whole family up to camp at Brighton.  Whenever they got homesick for their homeland, they came to Brighton; It reminded them of the beautiful mountains of Norway.

Brighton in the Summer:

Norway in the Summer:

     While in Norway, my mother's grandfather was one of the leaders of the Norwegian resistance against the Nazi's during WWII.  My great grandfather smuggled guns, ammunition and gold for the resistance. Following the instructions of their grandfather, the kids skied near the harbor and playfully built a huge snowman.  With their hearts racing, these children, would build this snowman right by the water's edge, usually under the watchful eyes of the German soldiers patrolling the pier. Sometimes, the kids would playfully toss a snowball or two at the soldiers.  Frequently, the German soldiers played along; sometimes they even helped the kids build the snowman.  After-all, they were really only kids too.  

     As the kids completed the final steps of dressing the snowman, if they put a tattered, old straw hat on top of the snowman, it sent a message that there were supplies buried directly under the snowman.  (No hat meant that under the snowman was empty).

     Late at night, resistance workers would silently paddle into the pier, then crawl across land.  They would slowly move the snowman in order to quickly remove the smuggled gold and ammunition. Then, these brave Norwegian underground operators would silently place the snowman back. With a quick smoothing to the snow, their tracks were covered and they would slip quickly back into their row boat and paddle into the Arctic night.

     As these kids grew older, they skied through the mountains for the underground. The explosions in those mountains weren't the ski patrol blasting the runs to prevent avalanches; those explosions were meant for them.

     After immigrating to Utah, the Jensens were finally able to ski simply for joy. Brighton was their favorite place.  Every weekend, they took the bus that stopped on 13th East and North Temple, and it took them all up to Brighton. 

     After my mother married my father, the tradition continued.  We skiied every week-end.  

     On the left, is a picture of my oldest brother, David, taking last minute instructions from my mom.

And, to the right is yours truly, Little Loretta.

     In our household, learning to ski was probably as important as potty training. I can't remember not knowing how to ski, and I learned at Brighton.  As we grew, we continued the tradition with our kids.  David's daughters, Joscie and Aimee, are pictured below in 1979.  Fortunately, they had no knowledge of their great-great grandfather's covert operation of using his grand-children's snowman building skills to smuggle goods out of Norway, in an effort to fight against the Nazis.

      

Joscie and Aimee: David's daughters, Norma's grand-daughters, and Sverre's great grand-daughters in 1979

     The chubby-cheeked wonder in pink above is all grown up now, and this is her five year old son (present day), getting words of wisdom from his Great Grandma Norma:

And another powder hound hits the slopes:

Tyler: Sverre's great-great grandson, Norma's great grandson, David's grandson, and Aimee's son....on Snake Creek.

The Tradition Continues.....

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Written by Loretta Gale, part of Infobytes and overall Brighton fanatic.  We want to hear your story!  If your family has had wonderful experiences at Brighton, we want to know about it.  Start gathering photos, videos, and write it down.  We'll have a form to upload material available soon.  If your story is featured on the website, you will receive a gift certificate at Brighton.