Grandpa Robert &
Grandma Verda Mae & Family Recordings, Videos & Documents

Names go here.

🎬 Grandpa Robert's Vision and Testimony video - This 4 minute video is from the last pages of his written life history.  The voice was cloned based on some of his vocal recordings.

🎬 Slideshow Video of Photos of Robert through his life Version 1 - Beautifully done by Aunt Nancy, with a song she wrote just for this.  The lyrics go with the photos and times of Robert's life.  Amazing to watch and listen to.  5 minutes.

🎬 Slideshow Video of Photos of Robert through his life  Version 2 -  An extended version of the above with more photos and a soundtrack of lovely songs.  12 minutes.

🎬 Slideshow Video of Photos of Robert through his life  Version 3 -  A version of the above with a selection of  photos and an instrumental soundtrack.  15.5 minutes.

🎬 John Taylor Stories Video - A recording of Robert leading a family home evening slide show with stories of John Taylor in Church history.  Video, images and captions added. 18 minutes

🎬 Robert at Clayton's Mission Farewell Video - An annotated video the Robert's recorded talk, as further down this list.

📄 Robert's Patriarchal Blessing  - Grandpa Robert's patriarchal blessing.

🎤 Jedidiah Grant Story - Grandpa Robert tells the Church history story of Jedidiah Grant - 2 minutes

🎤 Robert to Elliott on his mission - a recofding of Grandpa Robert to Elliott who was on his mission in Japan - 7.5 minutes

🎤 Comical - Elliott interviews Robert about the Democrats - Grandpa Robert goes off on the Democrats! 2.5 mins

🎤 Robert to Mushashino Family - The Mushasino family was taught by Elliott in Japan while on his mission.  They joined the Church.  They later came to visit Elliott and his family in Utah.  Brother Mushasino was visually blind, and his was a doctor of acupuncture.   A fun combination!  And a wonderful family. 2 minutes

🎤 Robert tells the Joseph Smith Story in a Family Home Evening - This was recorded in the living room of the family home, during a Family Home Evening lesson.  Robert showed slides to accompany the story, and asked questions of the children during the lesson.  You can hear some of the children's voices. - 20 minutes.

🎤 Robert speaking at Clayton's Missionary Farewell Sacrament Meeting -  Recorded in the Rose Park Stake West Chapel as part of Clayton's missionary farewell.  Rather than tell stories about Clayton, Robert sets off on a Gospel sermon and testimony.  12 minutes

🎤 John Taylor Stories - Grandpa Robert tells stories about John Taylor in Church history.  Including a funny story of how the American Bible Society plotted to destroy the Church in Utah by flooding it with copies of the Bible!  18 minutes.

🎤 Ulyses S Grant Story - Grandpa Robert tells the story of U.S. President Ulysses S Grant and the Mormons in Utah. - 2 minutes.

🎤 Funeral Remarks at Robert's Funeral - F. Keith Stepan was the bishop of the Rose Park 10th ward at the time of Robert's passing.  A gifted writer and speaker, Bishop Stepan gave this talk.  This is not a audio recording, but is a PDF copy of his talk. 5 pages.

📄 Story and Episode Indes to Robert's Life History  - This document is a listing of the stories and episodes from Robert's life history, listed below.  It provides an easy way to find a story, and the page that it is found on iin the full history document.  For example, the Jewish Artichoke story is listed in this index as being on Page 8 in the full history.

📄 Grandpa Robert's Life History Book - After Robert was diagnosed with cancer in 1975, he set about to write his life history.  He dictated it to his son Clayton, who had returned from college in England to be at home at this time, and to Verda Mae.  Includes stories from his life and photos of Robert through his life.  This is an inspirational read.  There are life lessons here for all of us.  44 pages.   

This document was recreated by Jessica Christensen, based on the original version dictated by Robert.  Jessica added more photos, and provided the document in electronic form.  The page numbers appearing in this document at the bottom of each page have been adjusted to match the electronic page numbers of the PDF.

🎤 Verda Mae speaking at Spencer's missionary farewell - Very poor audio quality on this recording.  Initally there is a man speaking, and then Grandma Verda Mae speaks.  Good luck understanding it. 😁 - 25 minutes

🎤 To Clayton on his mission - a recording to Clayton while he was on his mission to Korea - 16 minutes

 🎤 Verda Mae speaking at Clayton's missionary farewell - 3.5 minutes

📄 Verda Mae's Patriarchal Blessing - A copy of her patriarchal blessing.

🎤 Verda Mae gives her famous "Rules of Dating" talk - (still searching for this) Grandma Verda Mae was a popular speaker at youth and young adult groups in the Church for many years.  She often had a dozen or more speaking engagements each year.  Her speciality was a talk called "The Five Rules of Dating".  She outlines five rules for dating to help the youth keep the Law of Chastity.   She had many compliments and comments in subsequent years from people who heard her speak and the difference it made in their lives.

📄 Verda Mae's "Rules of Dating" talk, in text format - Each time she delivered this talk, it was a little different.  Here is the text of one version of that talk.    Also included is a poem she wrote that goes along with the topic.

📄 "An Open House - The Poetry of Verda Mae Christensen"- This 140-page book was put together by Elliott and Jennifer's daughters.  It includes the many poems that Verda Mae wrote over the years.  It was beautifully done, with the poems grouped into meaningful chapters.

📄 "Queen In A Kingsize Family" The autobiography of Verda Mae Christensen"- After her husband Robert died, Verda Mae returned to college to earn a masters degree from the University of Utah.  As part of that program, she wrote this autobiography.   It tells her life stories as the "queen in a kingsize family".  259 double-spaced pages.  (you can click the "index" icon at the side of the displayed document to jump to a chapter or page)

📄 Story and episode index to Verda Mae's autobiography- To help make Verda Mae's autobiography (above) more accessible, here is a list of the stories and episodes and their page numbers.  You can read the story list and see what looks interesting.  The page number listed with the story, is the page number in the full autobiography document.

🎤 Elliott speaking at Spencer's missionary farewell - Grandpa Robert passed away when Spencer was a senior in high school, and Elliott spoke at his missionary farewell. - 17 minutes

🎤 Elliott interviews Bradley - Elliott records a conversion with Bradley when Brad was a young boy - 3 minutes

🎤 Elliott interviews Spencer - Elliott records a conversation with Spencer as a young boy - 2 minutes

🎤 Elliott interviews Bradley and Spencer - more of the above - 2.5 minutes

🎤 Elliott interviews Robert about politics - 2.5 minutes

🎤 Robert to Elliott on his mission - 7.5 minutes

🎤 A Stake High Counselor to Elliott on his mission - 45 seconds

🎤 To Elliott on his mission from Stake President Ralph Steenblik - 2.5 minutes

🎤 To Elliott on his mission from Ruth Steenblik - 3.5 minutes

🎤 To Elliott on his mission from Ken Smith,  counselor in the stake presidency - 2 minutes

🎤 To Elliott on his mission from Julie Steenblik - a family friend 5.5 minutes

🎤 To Elliott on his mission from William "Bill" Jarrett  - 3.5 minutes

🎤 To Elliott on his mission from Louise Linton  - a family friend - 3 minutes

🎤 To Elliott on his mission from Seminary teacher Ken Jackson - 4 minutes

🎤 Clayton from his mission in Korea - Part 1 -  1973 - 12 minutes

🎤 Clayton from his mission in Korea - Part 2 - 1973 - 13 minutes

🎬 Clayton BYU-Idaho - Devotional Address that Clayton gave at BYU-Idaho in 2013. "Five Decisions for Which I am Grateful". He shares his sure testimony, and five very valuable decisions he made in his life. 41 minutes

🎬 Clayton BYU-Idaho - Forum Address 2017 - Clayton addresses students and faculty at BYU-I,  48 minutes.

🎬 Clayton BYU-Idaho - Forum Address 2010 - Clayton addresses students and faculty at BYU-I,  49 minutes.

🎬 Clayton Views on Religious Freedom - A video about his experience with a professor from China, on the reason that democracy works and the value of religion in a democracy. 2 minutes

🎬 Clayton "How Will You Measure Your Life" - A TED-X talk by Clayton,  based on an address he gave at Harvard graduation, and which soon became one of his books. 19 minutes.

🎬 Clayton "The Importance of Asking the Right Question" - A BYU-Idaho talk from 2010. 49 minutes.

🎬 Clayton "Technology In Our World" - A BYU-Idaho talk from 1985.  49 minutes.

📄 President Henry B Eyring Speaks at Clayton's Funeral - President Henry B Eyring traveled to Boston to speak at Clayton's funeral.  This is an article from the Deseret News - Deseret News.

🎤 Maribeth's missionary homecoming talk - Stories and experiences from her mission -31.5 minutes

🎤 Maribeth BYU-I Devotional Address "Develop Good Habits" - Maribeth was an associate professor at BYU Idaho, and gave this talk at one of the BYU college-wide devotionals - 37 minutes

📄 Maribeth writes in Y Magazine "Help For the Unhealthy Home" - an article about the air in our homes.  Maribeth was an associate professor at BYU of Family Life and Home Economics Education.

🎤 Spencer audio letter home  - while on his mission in Florida and Georgia, Spencer sends a semi-humorous Christmas message home - 31 minutes

🎤 Elliott speaks and Spencer's missionary farewell  - 17 minutes

🎤 Spencer's missionary homecoming talk - Stories and experiences from his mission - 22 minutes

🎤 Elliott interviews Spencer  as a boy - 2 minutes

🎤 Elliott interviews Spencer and Brad - as boys - 2.5 minutes

🎤 Spencer to Clayton on Clayton's mission - Spence was in the 9th grade - 3 mins

🎤 Bradley interviewed by Elliott  - Brad as a young boy - 3 minutes

🎤 Bradley and Spencer interviewed by Elliott - 2.5 minutes

🎤 Bradley to Clayton on Clayton's mission - 2 minutes

🎤 Nancy to Clayton on his mission - Recorded in 1972 - 1 minute

🎤 Carlton to Clayton on Clayton's mission - Recorded in 1972 - 1.5 minutes

🎤 Carlton to the Mushashino Family - The Mushashino family was taught the Gospel in Japan by Elliott while on his mission.  They later visited our family in Utah.  This was a recoding back to them later on. Brother Mushashino was visually blind and was an accupunture doctor. - 1 minute