PROVO -- Nature healed her and nature took her life.
For the past eight years Mollie Rose Hobaugh-Sorensen successfully battled breast cancer with natural medicine. Monday she and her 6-year-old granddaughter were killed by a falling tree. Another granddaughter was seriously injured. Investigators say it was a freak act of nature.Through her illness and for almost three decades before that, Hobaugh-Sorensen was an advocate of healthy relationships, strong families, fidelity and cherishing every moment of life.
"She inspired us and others to be like her," said Signe Sorensen-Knapp, one of her 11 children. "She was the one who would bind us together as a family. She was the one who motivated us."
Hobaugh-Sorensen motivated many. The native of Napa Valley, Calif., was a well-known LDS author, lecturer and teacher. She wrote three books on her strong family values and beliefs, "A New Spirit Within You," "More Perfect Union" and "The Forgotten Virtue." She was a frequent contributor to Ensign Magazine. She was working on her fourth book, "Dying to Live," an insight into her battle with breast cancer.
Monday night she was doing what she enjoyed most, hanging out with her family and celebrating life. In a matter of seconds, however, that celebration of life suddenly turned -- and her family was left coping with death and tragedy.
Her family had gathered at Big Springs Park in the South Fork of Provo Canyon to celebrate her son Aaron's birthday. Her husband, Norman, was there, along with six children and their spouses and about a dozen grandchildren.
"This is what we do," said Sorensen-Knapp, one of five daughters. "We get together for everything. We celebrate everything together."
With the large family gathered around a picnic table, Hobaugh-Sorensen turned to retrieve some matches to light the birthday cake. There was a sudden loud cracking sound that left little time to react as an 80-foot tall cottonwood tree came crashing down on the table.
Hobaugh-Sorensen, 56, her namesake granddaughter, Mollie Rose Sorensen, 6, Orem, and another granddaughter, Emma Sorensen, 4, Provo, were crushed by the fallen tree. Grandma Mollie and little Mollie were killed instantly. Emma suffered skull, spine and pelvic injuries and remains in the pediatric intensive care unit at Primary Children's Medical Center in serious condition.
Four other family members were treated for injuries at local hospitals and released: Norman Sorensen Sr., 60; Donnie and Rosanna Sorensen, both 40 of Orem, and parents of little Mollie; and Shannon Sorensen, 7, Provo, another granddaughter.
Utah County investigators and tree experts are baffled as to why the apparently healthy tree suddenly fell. There was little wind, and three arborists who checked out the tree Tuesday morning say the roots were strong.
"There is no explanation whatsoever why the tree came down," said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Harris. "It was just one of those one-in-a-million things, like walking down the street and getting hit with lightning."
Family members believe Hobaugh-Sorensen had a few seconds to react after hearing the tree crack and was trying to rescue her granddaughters when she was crushed.
"Her motherly instincts kicked in, and she went for the children," Sorensen-Knapp said.
Norman and Mollie raised their 11 children on an eight-acre farm in Napa Valley. All of the children eventually migrated to Utah. Most still live here with their families.
Hobaugh-Sorensen had lived in an Orem condo for the past year while working on her master's degree in communications from Brigham Young University. Her husband flew up on weekends to be with her and the couple's children.
She wanted her master's degree to give more clout to her message and teachings. As a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of 16, family members say Hobaugh-Sorensen was very passionate about her convictions. She wrote, taught and lectured on the power of strong relationships with family and God. She was scheduled to be the keynote speaker this weekend at an education conference at BYU.
"The thing that made her words so powerful was that she didn't just talk the talk, she had walked the walked," Sorensen-Knapp said.
Her death will leave a void in her California hometown where the Sorensens are a prominent family. Each year hundreds of local residents gather at the family's home for a community Halloween party and Christmas celebration.
"Everything was personal to her. She was the kind of woman who never met a stranger. She was interested in everyone and what they were doing," Sorensen-Knapp said.
Residents of the northeast Orem neighborhood where little Mollie Sorensen lived say the Foothills Elementary School first-grader had many of her grandmother's traits.
"She was very cheerful and positive," said next-door neighbor Parris Egbert. "Whenever she came over to our house she was very motherly, always directing the younger kids and helping them do things."
Little Mollie is the fourth child in the neighborhood to die over the past few years, so many understand the Sorensens' grief. Still, most are shocked at the freak accident that killed the young girl.
"We're just trying to figure out the rhyme and reason to it all," Egbert said.
The Sorensen family is not only dealing with the death of two loved ones but with the long recovery period facing Emma, the daughter of Norman Sorensen Jr. and his wife, Ingrid. But the family says their closeness and love, and their faith that Grandma Mollie and little Mollie have moved on to a mission in a better place, will get them through.
"We'll just come together more, and our love will heal us. We'll be all right," Sorensen-Knapp said.
Final funeral arrangements have not been announced. However, because most of the Sorensen family resides in Utah, a joint service is planned for Saturday in Orem.
E-MAIL: jimr@desnews.com