Denise Rathofer Christian

Linda Denise Rathofer was born August 23, 1950 to Alfred and Ruth Rathofer in Salt Lake City. She passed away on October 22 due to complications from Alzheimer's disease.

From an early age, Denise excelled in school. She had a talent for languages and music. Denise sang in the choir at Highland High School and was first chair violinist in the orchestra. She attended the University of Utah and graduated magna cum laude in elementary education at the age of 20.

Denise married Paul Christian in 1971 in the Salt Lake Temple. She worked as a teacher in Granite School District for 25 years. She took a break from teaching to have her two boys, Michael and Brian. She enjoyed quality time with the boys when they were young.

On family vacations she was always finding things that she could take back to her classroom to stimulate her students. She regularly ran into former and current students. "Mrs. C" (Denise) was a master teacher and spent most of her career teaching sixth grade at Morningside Elementary. She was also occasionally asked by Granite School District administrators to observe and critique teachers who were struggling in a classroom. All of her students learned how to write a research paper. She made learning fun and was in great demand from parents and students. She always went above and beyond the curriculum to find interesting facts and projects. When she announced that she was retiring many parents of students pleaded with her to continue, but it was time for her to step away.

Denise enjoyed entertaining and was an exceptional cook. She kept an immaculate home and saw that it was nicely appointed. With Paul they enjoyed "U" sporting events and entertaining family, friends, and colleagues. After she retired, travel became a wonderful part of her life. Regular trips to Florida, Maine, Hawaii and Jackson Hole were their favorite domestic vacation spots and they traveled to most of the states in the US. They enjoyed the annual family week at their condo in Park City, with their children and their families. Denise and Paul enjoyed free spirit travel, including Europe, British Isles, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Norway, Egypt, and China. The top trip on their bucket list was an amazing safari in Tanzania.

Denise loved children and dogs. Every child in a restaurant, walking down the street or in a store got her attention and she would talk with them and praise them. She loved her five grandchildren; time with Nana was special. After her retirement, she enjoyed being a worker at the Salt Lake Temple. She also volunteered as a docent at the state capital building and at the Utah Natural History Museum.

Denise is preceded in death by her mother Ruth Gibby Rathofer, father Alfred Rathofer and brother Stephen Rathofer.

She is survived by her husband Paul and children, Michael Christian (Stephanie) and Brian Christian (Kristi) and five grandchildren, Katelynn, Ian, Michael Jr, Clara, and Samantha.

A viewing will be held at the Wasatch Lawn Mortuary, 3401 S. Highland Drive, Salt Lake City on Friday Nov 3 from 6:00-8:00 pm. Another viewing will be held on Saturday Nov 4 at 10:00-10:45 am and the funeral service will be at 11:00 am at the Wasatch Lawn Mortuary.

Interment will be held following the services at the Wasatch Lawn Cemetery.