Fairbanks Family in the West Organization

Board Members

Grant Fairbanks - President

Leah Poulsen - Board Member
      I'm honored to be able to write a short history of my mother, Leah Yates Burrows Poulsen, who has served faithfully as Co-President of the Fairbanks Family in the West Organization for many years, and is now a Board Member.
      Leah was born on June 7, 1932, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to loving parents, Lydia Fairbanks Yates and Jesse Kimball Burrows. She was the second child in the family. Annette was her older sister. As the years went by, seven more children were added to the family: Abbie, Marvin, Naomi, Nancy, Mary, Frances and Becky. Leah had a happy childhood with wonderful trips, holidays, good food, and family experiences. The family lived in the Burton Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. Leah made good friends there, and they still get together.
      When Leah graduated from Granite High School in 1950, her mother encouraged her to go into nursing. She entered the nursing program at the University of Utah and graduated in 1954. In the summer of 1951, Leah met Jesse Raymond Poulsen. They were married in September of 1952. Their first child, David, was born two years later. Ruth, Kathryn, Michael, Lucy, Christine, and Jeanette all followed.
      In 1964 Leah and Jesse bought a home and moved from Salt Lake City to Murray, Utah. This is where they raised their family and where they live today. The children all went to Murray schools, and Jesse worked at Buehner Concrete. In 1968 Leah went back to work as a nurse at Cottonwood Hospital. She worked in many areas of the hospital, with her final years being on the oncology (cancer) floor. Over the twenty-nine years that she worked at Cottonwood Hospital she gave much loving, dedicated service to those in need.
      Leah has been a dedicated and loving wife, and we as children have also felt unconditional love from her. We've always felt accepted for who we are. Mom is the most unselfish person we can think of, always doing for others, giving to others, thinking of others. We had a happy childhood with fun times and security. Leah's children truly "rise up and call her blessed." (Proverbs 31:28)
      Since Leah's retirement in 1997, she has been as busy as ever, serving others. She helps people learn how to read, looks after a handicapped couple with all their many needs, serves a part-time mission for her church, teaches children in Primary, and serves her large family. All thirty-three of her grandchildren ranging in ages from twenty years to two months love her in a special way.
      Leah enjoys the arts, attends the symphony, opera, plays and other cultural events. She is a strong supporter of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers organization. She attends the temple faithfully, and she continues to live a full and wonderful life.

-Ruth Challis

Sandra Hagman von Foller - Board Member
      My name is Sandra Hagman von Foller. Harriet Fairbanks Doremus is my Great-Great-Grandmother, and my Great-Grandmother is Pauline Richards Doremus, and my Grandma is Harriet Pauline Doremus Hagman, born 1878 and died 1942. Harriet was the first Vice-President of the organized Fairbanks Family in the West, and her Father, Abraham Fairbanks Doremus was the first President of the organization. I was honored to be able to carry on some of the family tradition and to have represented the family by acting as Co-President of the Fairbanks Family in the West for several years. I am now serving on the Family Board.
       I was born and raised in Salt Lake City and now reside here after having spent half of my life in Europe raising a family and owning and directing a Modern Ballet Dance Academy in Barcelona, Spain and teaching modern dance in Duesseldorf, Germany. My most prized assets are my two children, Deborah and Adrian Armin. Deborah lives in South Salt Lake and Adrian is for the moment living with me in our home in Holladay. Having the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as a focal point in my life is another of my prized possessions.
      At the moment I am attending college to become a pharmaceutical technician. My interests are dance, the arts, gardening, domestic arts, spending time with my family, enjoying the outdoors and meeting foreign peoples of foreign countries. I have great joy in working with people who have a desire to learn more about themselves, for self-improvement and communicative purposes. Getting to meet and to know more about our extended family is a great privilege to me.

David Poulsen - Treasurer

       Dave Poulsen was born in September of 1954 to Jesse and Leah Poulsen. He graduated from Murray High School in 1973, and then served a church mission in Germany (Hamburg) from1975 to1977. Dave was sealed to Debbie Petersen in 1979 in the Salt Lake Temple. They have seven children--Jeff, Jenny, Dan, Kristal, Rachael, Heather, and Heidi. Dave received a BFA from the University of Utah in 1981. Dave and his family have lived in their home in West Jordan, Utah since April 1985.
       Dave has been employed by Sandy City, first as a Public Utilities drainage inspector, then as the Development Engineering Coordinator, since December of 1997. Prior to that, he worked as a design technician at CRS Consulting Engineers for sixteen years. He serves as first counselor in the bishopric in his church. His hobbies are screenplay writing, playing basketball, reading, hiking, playing guitar, and running. He ran his first marathon in April 2005, finishing the 26.2 miles of the Salt Lake City Marathon in 4:22.

Georgia Fairbanks - Board Member

Christine Snow - Board Member

Tom Fairbanks - Board Member

Shauna Fairbanks - Fairbanks Flyer Newsletter Editor

James Fairbanks - Board Member

       I am a descendent of John Boylston Fairbanks, who came across the plains with the Mormon pioneers in 1847. My great grandfather was J. B. Fairbanks; my grandfather, Avard T. Fairbanks; and my father, Avard F. Fairbanks. I am currently attending Tuft's University in Boston for dental school. I hold a B.A. degree in music from the University of Utah. I also have been a member of the Salt Lake Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
         In 1996, when the Fairbanks Family in the West Organization met at the home of Lydia Fairbanks Yates Burrows, the comment was made that the family committee needed some "younger blood." Recently returned from an L.D.S. mission, I volunteered and have been involved with the family organization since then. Beginning that year, along with Richard and Fonda Fairbanks, Lenore Frodsham, Georgia Fairbanks, and Jonathan and Mutsumi Fairbanks, I participated in planning and organizing our family reunion for 1997 coinciding with the sesquicentennial celebration of the Mormon Pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley. I also volunteered that summer as a docent in the John Boylston and Sarah Van Wagoner Fairbanks Home at This is the Place Heritage Park.
         I have helped in organizing the family newsletter, The Fairbanks Flyer, and have been involved with layout and writing articles. I have also worked to keep the family membership records and database current. In 1999, I created new millennial calendars featuring the artwork of John B. Fairbanks, pioneer artist of Utah, for the family organization to sell at the summer reunion. That same year I became co-president of the family organization along with Leah Poulsen. Together with two of Leah's children, David Poulsen and Ruth Challis, and previous family committee members, we worked to organize this past reunion.
         I truly enjoy my heritage. I am thankful for this wonderful opportunity to learn about our ancestors whose sacrifices and examples have shaped our lives, and to organize and plan events for the family organization honoring them.