Elven Howard Nisson

Born 8 October 1909 in Preston, Idaho, to Mary Olsen and Norman Hans Nisson
Married Afton May Christiansen 14 Sep 1934 in Salt Lake
Died 24 December 1958
Buried in Bountiful

1910 Census
1920 Census
1930 Census

This was written by Howard's daughter Vickie.

Born 8 October 1909 in Preston, Idaho. He was the eldest child of Norman Hans and Anne Marie (Mary) Olsen Nisson The family lived in Preston for a few years where his brother, Ken and sister Helen were born. The family moved to Banida which is a small community between Preston and Swan Lake. Lulu and Vera were both born (and died) while the family was living in Banida. They then moved to Swan Lake where Grandpa Nisson’s three other brothers, Frank, Ivan and Arlo were born.

Grandpa Nisson enjoyed playing baseball and basketball. When he was a teenager he played on teams that traveled to other towns for competition. The upstairs part of the house had a large room with a fruit basket on one wall to practice shooting basketballs.

Grandpa Nisson drove a school bus in the Swan Lake area before he was married. When the weather was bad, he would put each child on his shoulders and carry the child from the bus to his or her home.

Grandpa and Grandma Nisson were married in the Salt Lake Temple on September 14, 1934 and lived two years in Downey. In 1936 he was hired by Greyhound Bus Company and they moved to the Holladay area of Salt Lake. They had many good friends there. One couple, the Sevys were particularly close to them. Their daughters Sandra and Connie were born there.

In 1943 he was transferred to Burley, Idaho. Grandpa Nisson was a charter member of the Burley Kiwanis Club - a service organization. The club was active in helping with many projects, including making the dugouts for the Burley Baseball Park. In July of 1945 Grandpa Nisson was called as Stake Clerk and in October of 1948 he was called to be bishop of the Burley 5th Ward. He was ordained the next month, on 21 November, by Elder Joseph F. Merrill of the Quorum of the Twelve.

Grandpa Nisson’s family had not been very active in the Church when he was a child so as an adult he eagerly studied the gospel. He knew that to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart" you had to live the commandments. He was faithful and diligent in doing that. Worldly goods and money meant nothing to him - he only wanted enough for the comfort of his family and for furthering the Lord’s work.

His counselor in the bishopric owned an 80 acre farm and often couldn’t get help at harvest time. Grandpa Nisson would go each year to help him - keeping at it for hours or days, until the harvest was finished and he accepted no pay for the help.

A member of the ward commented on Grandpa Nisson’s pleasing smile and personality.

I remember three incidents with Grandpa Nisson during our years in Burley. The stake (or ward) had a welfare project in the area of Jerome, Idaho. Grandpa would go there to work from time to time. I remember going with him. Connie and Sandra were in school so I was the lucky one who got to go along.

Another happy memory is going on Jack Rabbit Road to do something with the Greyhound buses. I am not sure what we were officially doing on these outings but Grandpa would take the buses for a drive at night. He would take the whole family with him and we would go on a road in the Burley area we called Jack Rabbit Road since there were so many jack rabbits in the area that would run away from the headlights of the bus. It was quite the sight!

The last memory is from a time we were working at the church. Grandpa was fixing the furnace and daughters were setting up chairs for some ward event. Grandpa Nisson walked into the cultural hall where we were doing the chairs. He had a handkerchief around his finger and calmly announced that he had cut off his finger and was going to the doctor. Since he seemed so unconcerned about it and was often kidding us about lots of things, Sandra, Connie and I didn’t even believe him. But it was true. The pointer finger on his right hand was cut off at about the middle knuckle. Grandma Nisson said he was hesitant to shake hands with people for a while after the accident.

In the fall 1953 the family moved to Bountiful. Elven was born there in 1954. While in Bountiful, Grandpa Nisson taught the gospel doctrine class, the high priest quorum, and was in the high priest group leadership. It was said that he taught the gospel in a simple, direct manner.

Grandpa and Grandma attended the temple often where Grandpa was a veil worker. Sandra’s son, Kennion, was born when Elven was just 6 months old. Grandpa Nisson stayed home with the family while Grandma went to Washington to help Sandra with her new baby.

The ward needed money to build a new church building. At the time Grandpa and Grandma Nisson had purchased their home in Bountiful, they bought another lot in the neighborhood. They donated this second lot to the ward so the high priests could build a home on the lot to sell to help raise money for the ward building fund.

There were few days and nights Grandpa Nisson wasn’t there working on the house. One of the other high priests said they would discuss the gospel and their families while working.

Grandpa Nisson was very interested in his children's education and of course, their remaining true to the teachings of the gospel. Another ward member commented that Grandpa Nisson was cheerful, friendly and willing and that no time was too early or too late to call him for help.

Grandpa Nisson had had trouble with stomach ulcers for some time but they stopped responding to the normal treatment. In November of 1958, he went to the hospital for some tests. He was told he had cancer, there was nothing they could do and he had 6 months to a year to live.

The man who was bishop of the ward said that when he went to visit Grandpa, Grandpa referred to the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 42 that speaks of healing the sick unless they are appointed to death. The bishop said that Grandpa Nisson knew he was appointed to death and was willing to accept the will of the Lord and faced his death with great courage. That was certainly the way he taught and strengthened his family when we were told of his cancer. He only lived about 6 weeks, rather than the 6 months to a year.

I remember when he told us about the cancer. He obviously spoke to us in a calming, faithful manner because I remember thinking only, "this will be very hard for Elven" - who had just turned 4 years old. But I knew the Lord would watch over us. Grandpa died on December 24, 1958. A few days after his death, Grandma was sitting alone in the living room when she felt his arms around her, and his voice as distinct as she had ever heard, say, "Mother, don’t worry, everything is going to be all right."


If you would like a .pdf file of Howard's funeral, please send me an email at amirabook@gmail.com

Update 11/11/11-

Howard's son-in-law told us these two things about Howard:

[Son-in-law] was talking to Daddy [Howard] not long before he was diagnosed with cancer and he, dad, was thinking back over his life and said he had always wanted to be an attorney.

The second thing is that he was completely ambidextrous. As [son-in-law] said, he could pound a nail equally well with either hand. I remember mother commenting that when he lost the end of his finger it wasn't as much of a problem for him since he could use either hand equally well.