1885–1959

Introduction

portrait

Born: No­vem­ber 19, 1885, Stord Is­land, Hord­al­and Fylke, Nor­way.

Died: Au­gust 18, 1959, As­pen, Co­lo­ra­do.

Buried: For­est Hill Ce­me­te­ry, Kan­sas Ci­ty, Mis­sou­ri.

Pseudonyms

portrait

Biography

Haldor was the son of Ole Paul­son Lil­le­nas and Anne Ma­rie Jonsdtr Tvei­tal. He mar­ried twice, to Ber­tha Mae Wil­son (1910) and Lo­la Dell Kel­logg (1945).

He emi­grat­ed to Am­eri­ca with his fa­mi­ly as a child. They set­tled first in South Da­ko­ta, then moved to Ore­gon in 1889.

Lillenas at­tend­ed Deets Pa­cific Bi­ble Col­lege in Los An­ge­les, Ca­li­for­nia (lat­er Pa­sa­de­na Col­lege). He stu­died mu­sic at the Sie­gel-My­ers School of Mu­sic, Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, and re­ceived an hon­or­ary Doc­tor of Mu­sic de­gree from Ol­iv­et Na­za­rene Col­lege.

Haldor and his wife Ber­tha were el­ders in the Church of the Na­za­rene. Hal­dor tra­veled as an ev­an­gel­ist, then was a pas­tor at se­ver­al church­es.

His first pas­tor­ate was in Lom­poc, Ca­li­for­nia, in 1910. He lat­er served in Red­lands, Ca­li­for­nia, and In­di­an­apo­lis, In­di­ana.

In 1924, he found­ed the Lil­le­nas Mu­sic Com­pa­ny (bought by the Na­za­rene Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny in 1930), work­ing as an ed­it­or there un­til re­tir­ing in 1950.

In his life­time, he is said to have writ­ten 4,000 hymns, and sup­plied songs for ma­ny ev­an­gel­ists.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

Music