November 19, 1885, Stord Island, Norway.
August 18, 1959, Aspen, Colorado.
Forest Hill Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri.
Lillenas emigrated to America as a child; his family settled first in South Dakota, then moved to Oregon in 1889. He attended Deets Pacific Bible College in Los Angeles, California (later renamed to Pasadena College); studied music at the Siegel-Myers School of Music in Chicago, Illinois; and received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Olivet Nazarene College. His first pastorate was in Lompoc, California, in 1910; he later pastored in Redlands, California, and Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1924, he founded the Lillenas Music Company (bought by the Nazarene Publishing Company in 1930), and worked as an editor there until retiring in 1950.
Haldor married Bertha Mae Wilson, a songwriter like himself. He and Bertha were elders in the Church of the Nazarene. Haldor traveled as an evangelist, then pastored several churches, 1914–24. In his lifetime, he wrote some 4,000 hymns, and supplied songs for many evangelists. His works include:
Whosoever,That Means Me