By Emily Sanderson — July 1, 2009
MAYFIELD — Lee and Tina Sorensen from Mayfield have been chosen as a Grand Marshal couple for the Gunnison Sesquicentennial Parade July 4. The couple has been married for seven years.
Tina graduated from Richfield High School where she served as a student body officer. She has served in various leadership positions in the LDS Church. Tina participated in many service projects through the Jr. Culture Club. She taught dance lessons for 25 years. Tina has retired from Sevier School District after 23 years working in various positions at Ashman Elementary, media specialist at Central Utah Educational Services and librarian at Pahvant Elementary School.
She is the daughter of Anna and Mark Snedeger and was married to the late Nile Nielsen. She has four children: Kenzie, Kelli, Megan and Jace. Hobbies she enjoys are reading, sewing, scrapbooking, blogging and quilting.
Lee is a graduate of Gunnison Valley High School. He has served in various LDS Church positions. Lee has served in the following organizations: Sanpete County Farm Bureau (president), Cattleman Association (president), the Utah Food Council, Utah Young Farmers and Ranchers (president) and, for 12 years, he has served on the Gunnison Hospital Board.
Lee has been involved in farming and ranching all of his life. The last 23 years he has been a Farm Bureau Agent. He was awarded Utah’s Agent of the Year in 1996. In 2008 he was elected to the Farm Bureau Hall of Fame. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Rural Health Management Board.
Lee is the son of Mary Louise Sorensen and the late Neil Sorensen. He has six children: Mike, Michelle, Lisa, Shane, Tyler and Mallory. He enjoys singing, writing and performing cowboy poetry. He currently performs with a group named the Twelve Mile Trio.
Together Lee and Tina are participating in both the Mayfield Lions Club and the District Lions Club. They enjoy spending time together, dancing, woodworking, horse riding and playing with their 20 grandchildren.
AXTELL — Leland and Donna Vee Sorenson were selected to represent Axtell as Grand Marshalls in the Gunnison Sesquicentennial Parade July 4. The couple has been married for 61 years.
Leland has lived in Axtell his whole life except for two years when he served in the Marine Corps during World War II whild stationed in China. He attended Gunnison Valley High School, and Donna Vee attended Sevier High School. Leland married Donna when she was just 16 as he returned from the war. Donna regrets she never finished high school, but she has gained enough life experience to make up for it and then some.
They were sealed in the Provo LDS Temple in 1982.
He and Donna Vee have worked as farmers and ranchers their whole lives. They retired in 2000.
Leland has been a member of the Grazers Association and has served on three water boards, including the Highland Canal Company, the Gunnison Irrigation Company and the Willow Creek Irrigation Company. Leland is an avid horseback rider. Since his retirement, he likes to chop firewood and likes to read stories about the Indians and other histories.
Donna Vee has been mainly a housewife throughout her life, but she worked at a sewing plant for 10 years. She is an excellent seamstress and used to make and sell quilts out of her home. She now enjoys reading and sitting on her porch watching wildlife. She loved it when her grandchildren come to visit.
Donna has served in the LDS Church as a Relief Society president for 20 years and as a Relief Society teacher for five years. Leland has served in the LDS Church in the ward high priest presidency.
Leland and Donna has one son, Steven Lamar, who lives in Kanosh. They have five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
CENTERFIELD — Dell and Joan Draper moved to Centerfield from the Salt Lake Valley in the early 1980s because of Dell’s job at Western General Dairy, where he drove a milk truck for many years. He also worked as supervisor of the milk run. Joan worked for the Moroni Feed turkey plant in Salina. They are now both retired.
Dell was the mayor of Centerfield from 1990-1994, in which time he was instrumental in getting the sewer line installed, something very controversial at the time. He did a lot toward community beautification and clean-up. The city gave awards to residents who had done the most to improve the appearance of their yards, and Dell carved the awards himself out of wood into the shape of cartoon characters.
He was also instrumental in establishing a Founder’s Day celebration for Centerfield which remained strong for six to eight years. The celebration included a state-sanctioned mud rally, a children’s parade and a community barbecue. He also painted all the fire hydrants into cartoon characters. Dell was a strong supporter of community values and sought to address community concerns.
Joan loves to do crafts, including fishing line Christmas trees and beadwork. Dell loves to do woodwork and play the guitar, and their children also are musically talented. They are the parents of two boys and a girl, Mike, Kelly and Shirlee, who all live in the Salt Lake Valley today. When Dell and Joan lived in Salt Lake City, both were active in the Kearns American League for 7- to 12-year-old boys, the ages of their sons at the time. They also participated in the Boy Scouts for 16 years.
The family enjoys spending time together, and they love to go camping and fishing. The Drapers are honored to represent Centerfield in the Gunnison parade.
