Laurel J. Jensen, 92, Sauk Rapids

November 20, 1927 - May 23, 2020

Laurel J. Jensen, age 92, Sauk Rapids, MN, died Saturday, May 23, 2020 at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Home, Sauk Rapids, MN.

Due to the COVID 19 pandemic private family services will be held. Burial will be in the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery, Little Falls. Funeral arrangements were made by Benson Funeral Home, St. Cloud, MN.

Laurel was born on November 20, 1927 in Madison, SD to Carlyle and Inza (Thomas) Nelson. She was a graduate of Oldham High School, Oldham, SD. On July 16, 1947, Laurel was united in marriage to Orville D. Jensen in Webster, SD. She was a South Dakota country school teacher and farmed with Orville until they moved to Minneapolis in 1970. There she worked as a medical records clerk at Methodist Hospital. She was a former member of the Evangelical Free Church of St. Louis Park, MN and a charter member and former treasurer of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. Laurel always preferred to stay in the background, but all who knew her will remember her kindness and sense of humor. Her family will remember her as a loving matriarch who was a deeply devoted mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. They will miss her kindness and humor, as well as her mischievous smile and the twinkle in her eye.

Survivors include daughters and sons, Linda J. Evenson of Mora, MN; Barbara L. (Curtis) Thurn of St. Cloud, Duane A. Jensen of Phoenix, AZ; David L. Jensen of Minneapolis, MN; 11 grandchildren; 25 great grandchildren and one to be born soon.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Orville in 2011; brother, Verlynn Nelson; and sisters, Carol Ann Anderson and Lenora Anderson.

Memorials are preferred to the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd.