ESTHERVILLE - Funeral services for John L. Jensen, 84, of Estherville will be held 10:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 9, 2009, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Estherville with Pastor Paul Wiegman officiating. Visitation will be 4-7 p.m. Sunday at Henry-Olson Funeral Chapel in Estherville. A visitation will be held from 3-3:30 p.m. Monday at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kimballton with interment to follow at Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery.
John L. Jensen was born on Sept. 12, 1924, at Kimballton, a small Danish community in Audubon County in southwest Iowa, to John E. and Anna D. (Lykke) Jensen. He was one of the 25,000 full-blooded Danish people living in Iowa. He was baptized and confirmed at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kimballton.
John received his education in the Elk Horn-Kimballton school district graduating in 1943, and later attended the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. His military tenure was over two years with the Mechanized Cavalry and the U. S. Air Force. John was united in marriage to Lydia E. Christensen on Sept. 18, 1943, and they celebrated their 55 years of marriage before Lydia's death on May 13, 1998.
In the 1950s John served as a state board member of the American Cancer Society. He is a past member and president of the Estherville Industrial Development Corporation; past member and president of the Iowa Lakes Community College Foundation for over 20 years; past director and president of the Good Samaritan Center Home and he served on the Trinity Lutheran Church Council and served as president for two terms.
John wore many hats in his life. He was active in the furniture and funeral business, with his father, from the age of 14. He was nominated as the Democratic candidate in 1958 in the former 7th District of southwest Iowa. In the late 1950's John moved his family to Estherville and started "the Estherville Furniture Mart", later named Jensen Stores. In the early 1980s he invented, patented and manufactured the first cord-connected smoke and heat detector. Similar devices such as First Alert are available today. Other patented inventions include a unique door latch assembly and a burglar alarm. He was a licensed aircraft pilot with multi-engine. His hobbies through the years have been fishing, hunting, woodworking, reading and politics. His business experiences include an auto business, ladies ready-to-wear, furniture, and funeral, manufacturing and housing construction. In the early 1970s, he started with Sunrise Senior Citizen housing facilities, which since has grown to 149 units in Estherville, Emmetsburg, Spirit Lake and Spencer.
Preceding John in death was his oldest son, John Ronald, "Ronnie"; his wife, Lydia; his father, John and his mother, Anna.
Left to cherish his memory are two daughters, Carolyn Jensen, San Diego, Calif., and Brenda Paullus and her husband, Jeff, of Ventura, Iowa; two sons, Bob and his wife, Carol, and James of Estherville; nine grandchildren, David Siskan, John Salocker, Natalie Salocker, Chad Jensen, Tammy Asumpcao, Crystal Clabaugh, Jill Jensen, Amy Jensen and Nathan Jensen; three great-grandchildren; his special friend, Nancy Evans, of Ankeny and many relatives and friends.
On-line condolences may be sent to www.henryolsonfuneral.com