Lori Swenson Sorensen

Lori Swenson Sorensen of Ivins, Utah passed away on December 24, 2025. She was born May 4, 1962 in Ogden, Utah to Dale Gene Swenson and Karen Poulter. She married Benny Hans Sorensen on August 21, 1981 in the St. George Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Lori was raised in North Ogden, Utah, attending both Bates and North Ogden elementary schools as well as North Ogden Junior High. She loved being with friends as they rode bikes and skateboards and roamed around North Ogden and the surrounding foothills. Lori attended Weber High School and graduated in 1980. She loved to play sports and excelled at everything she tried. She played softball, volleyball, track, Tennis and Basketball. She excelled in Tennis and basketball and won many awards, including the Region One Women’s Tennis Title in doubles.

After high school graduation, Lori worked for the summer at Mckay-Dee Hospital before moving to St. George to attend Dixie College, where she had received an academic scholarship.

On the first day of a volleyball class she met Benny Sorensen and they dated for the whole school year and got engaged on the last day of school. Benny learned that Lori was a little competitive when they played tennis one afternoon. She had failed to disclose that she was a tennis champion in high school and proceeded to grab his male ego and beat it with a tennis racket. After that she said something like “that was fun”.

Lori and Benny were married in the St. George Temple on August 21, 1981 and began a life that would find Lori moving 18 times across 3 different states. They started out in a tiny apartment in downtown St. George after they were married. During the next 20 years Lori moved to Las Vegas, NV; then to Cedar City, UT, where they lived in 3 different apartments; to North Ogden, UT; Logan, UT; to Payson, UT; back to Las Vegas, NV; to Solvang, CA; to Porterville, CA, where they lived in 2 different places; then back to North Ogden, UT; and finally to Ivins, UT.

Lori did not like moving, it was hard for her always starting over in a new place. However, she loved the opportunities that came with each new place. She loved the people that she met, who became her good friends, she loved the opportunity to serve in the church and in a new community and she loved that her children got to see new places and meet new friends.

Lori was always involved in the schools where her children attended, spending time in the classroom helping the teachers. Lori always taught her children the things that they would need to know to be successful and they have all done well.

Lori has served in many callings in the church during her life, from Relief Society presidencies, Young Women presidencies and advisors, to Primary presidencies and teacher. By far, her favorite calling was to be the Nursery Leader! She loved to teach the children and have them come to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and enjoy being in Nursery. Lori had a natural ability to teach children and she loved doing it. She enjoyed teaching her own children, the children in Primary and the children in the schools where she volunteered and worked as a teachers aid. It brought her great joy and she was very good at it.

Lori loved working in scouting, with all four of her sons having received their Eagle Scout awards. She worked with the Cub Scouts and Weblos, she was a Wood Badge Trained Scout leader, she loved teaching the scouts and working with the wonderful people she was privileged to associate with and to call her friends. 

Lori had many jobs that she enjoyed along the way. She worked in Medical Records while living in Cedar City. In North Ogden she worked from home assembling various items for her uncle’s business before going to work for a quality assurance company which she ended up co-managing. She worked as a teachers aid at Red Mountain Elementary when she moved to Ivins where she got to know and love all of the teachers, staff and students. Lori even cleaned the Ivins City offices for a few years and she enjoyed that also.

Lori had a passion for natural ways of treating illness and maintaining good health that came about as a result of her having Epstein Barr/chronic fatigue, that modern medicine could not help her overcome. Lori began to study natural ways of healing and homeopathy and was able to get herself back to good health. She studied everything she could on the subject and joined with her Sister in law Vivian and a group of like minded “Homies” who have become some of her closest friends as they worked together to learn and be prepared for whatever life could throw at them. She enjoyed sharing the knowledge that she gained with others who needed help.

Lori always enjoyed being a Mother to her Children and tried her best to teach them the things that they would need to have a happy life and she wanted nothing more than for them to Love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, to love each other, to be good to each other and to be good people. Lori also enjoyed being a Grandma! After waiting 61 years for grandchildren she thoroughly enjoyed holding them, reading to them, taking them to the park and teaching them important things like how to have a picnic. Oh how she loved these three beautiful little girls!

Lori is an amazing person, she cares about other people and seemed to know when someone needed a little help. She would follow up on the promptings she received to check up on people. She was always willing to help and to offer a kind word or happy thought. She always told the people working at the store or bank or wherever she was, “thank you for being at work today, you have made my day better”.

Lori is an example of the things that she taught to others in scouting and in the church, she is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, Reverent, Beautiful, Intelligent, Fun and Loving. She loves Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and has done her best to live her life as they have taught her to live.

She is survived by her husband, Benny Hans Sorensen of Ivins, Utah; her children, Jonathan Hans Sorensen (Saratoga Springs, UT), Nathan S Sorensen (Las Vegas, NV), Taryn Jenkins (Preston) (Lehi, UT), Jansen Cory Sorensen (Natalie) (St. George, UT), Christian Hans Sorensen (Ivins, UT); Grandchildren, Amelia Kate Jenkins, Charlotte Rose Sorensen, Wren Elizabeth Jenkins; Mother, Karen Poulter Swenson (North Ogden, UT); Sister, Lisa Hunter (Richard) (North Ogden, UT); Brothers, Mitchell Gene Swenson (Vicki) (Lehi, UT), Kent Stuart Swenson (Jody) (North Ogden, UT); She is preceded in death by her father, Dale Gene Swenson, Brother, Michael Dale Swenson.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, January 3, 2026 at 11:00 am at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints building located at 15 North Main in Ivins, Utah. Friends may call Friday, January 2, 2026 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints building located at 15 North Main in Ivins, Utah. Interment will be in the Ivins City Cemetery.

Arrangements are made under the direction of Hughes Mortuary, 1037 East 700 South, St. George, UT (435) 674-5000

The Family wishes to thank all of Lori's friends and neighbors who have provided service to, and expressed their love for, Lori and her family. We also wish to thank the Doctors, Nurses and all staff on the Neurology floor at St. George Regional Hospital who worked so hard to identify the disease that was making Lori sick and ensure she received the best possible care.