Marion Jensen

Memorial Services for Marion Howard Jensen, 104, of Conde, will be 10:30am on Saturday, July 20th, at the Conde United Methodist Church. Rev. Rob Moorlach will officiate. The family will have an Inurnment at a later date.  Visitation will be held at  Paetznick-Garness Funeral Chapel, Groton, SD, on Friday, July 19th, from 5-7 pm with a prayer service starting at 7pm.

Marion (MH) was born on May 10, 1920, (the day after Mother’s Day), northeast of Conde on the Jensen family farm, to Carl and Esther (Callsen) Jensen. He passed away June 18, 2024, (two days after Father’s  Day) at Prairie Heights Rehabilitation Healthcare in Aberdeen.

In his 104 years on this Earth, MH lived a full life. Especially in his later years, he enjoyed the re-telling of many adventures and experiences he encountered. In the spirit of his love of reminiscing and storytelling, below is a condensed story of MH’s 104 years, one month and one day. Highlights of a life well lived.

He and his brother, Conrad (one year younger), were inseparable pranksters while they were growing up during the 1920s.  They gained a neighborhood katzenjammer reputation for mischievousness like the 1920s Katzenjammer Kids comic strip.  In 1926, MH lost his birthday money when the Conde bank crashed. The following year, at age 7, he was entrusted to drive a team of horses with a wagon load of wheat from the family farm five miles to the Verdon elevator and return all by himself.  By the time he was 10 years old he was driving his dad’s 15-30 International tractor on steel wheels.

During the Dirty 30’s, he walked or rode his pony to the Jensen Country School and struggled to find his way home on several occasions, due to the dust storms.  In his Sophomore year, he began attending Conde High School, graduating in 1938.  His employment and education during his teenage years included a summer delivering grasshopper poison to the local Conde farmers. That winter, he attended the National Youth Administration (NYA) Camp at Sand Lake. The next year, he attended auto body school in Fargo, ND, then trained to become a welder at Northern Normal and Industrial College (NSU), Aberdeen. He returned to the family homestead where he farmed with his father until his father’s death in 1944 when MH was only 24. He then farmed with his brother, Conrad, for 2 years, at their Uncle Ray Callsen’s farm east of Crandall.

MH was united in marriage with Betty Jean Hoops on June 30, 1946, at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Ferney. After a winter in Arizona, they moved their little farmhouse to East Broadway, Conde in 1948. Continuing to farm in the summers and doing odd jobs in the winters, he started his plumbing, heating and electrical business, Farm and Home Repair, in Conde. He continued to farm and operate Farm and Home Repair until his retirement in 1982.

MH was a member of the United Methodist Church in Conde, where, for decades, he served as a usher for Sunday services and funerals. His plumbing, heating and electrical skills were a valuable help to the church during an extensive remodeling of the old church structure in the early 1950’s. He provided those same contracting skills for the current building when it was constructed in 1973-4.

He was passionate about the civic development of Conde, a community the Jensen family had a presence in dating back to 1889. He was a member of the Conde Civic Development Association for many years, as well as the Conde Volunteer Fire Department, Conde Masonic Lodge and Eastern Star. He was a founder of the Andover James Valley Threshing Association (2006 Honored Couple). Additionally, MH was a Conde School District Board Member, Conde City Council Member and Conde Farmers Elevator Board Member. The City of Conde employed him to operate and maintain the Conde Water and Sewer system.

He enjoyed many years of hunting and fishing, including decades of annual treks to the Black Hills, hunting deer with several Conde community leaders and friends, as well as fall pheasant hunting.  Together, MH and Betty loved to travel and did so all over North America. Favorite destinations were visits to his sister, Elaine, in Canada, his uncle, Herb, in Louisiana, and an extended trip to Alaska with their friends, Carl and Alice Hanson and Jim and Arlene Peterson.

At age 62, he retired and began his favorite pastime, restoring old tractors, which then turned in to attending auction sales. He also collected Edison cylinder and platter phonographs and many other interesting finds. He sold his tractor collection at auction (2002), and later held an additional auction sale at the Masonic Temple in Conde (which he owned at the time), selling many of his auction finds, as well as the Temple. in June, 2023, MH sold his remaining 11 buildings on 5 properties and their contents, in Conde, which were filled with treasures from his many years of picking.

In his later years, he enjoyed his weekly lunches and marathon Bridge games at the Conde Senior Center, which he generally referred to as the “senile center.”  His last visit was only about a month ago.

After his wife, Betty, passed away April of 2016, he continued to live in the red family house on East Broadway until January 2022, when, at age 101, he moved into a senior apartment at Derian Living in Aberdeen.

MH instilled a strong work ethic in his children, encouraging them to receive training beyond high school at a profession of their choice; however, “not plumbing”. All four children graduated from post-secondary schools. None went into plumbing.

Celebrating his life are his sister, Louise (Delmar) Maeschen of Mitchell, SD; his children: Douglas (Marie) Jensen, Aberdeen, SD; Vicki Sullivan, Alexandria, VA; Randy Jensen, Sioux Falls, SD; and Steve (Mari) Jensen, Young America, MN.

Eight grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren: Kara Jensen (David) Zitnick, Maxfield and Julian, Eagan, MN; Karla Jensen, Hazel and Ruby, Littleton, CO; Carl (Kimberly) Jensen, Emma & Noah, Norman, OK; Ashley Sullivan-Freeman (Jon Freeman), Evelyn, Alexandria, VA; Benjamin Sullivan, Arlington, VA; Lyzzy (Wilbur) Cruz, Rosemari, Imogin, Adeline, Santiago, Washington, DC; Sarah (Jason) Hokkanen, Emily, Kyle, Kevin, New Hope, MN; and Cassie (Alex) MacDonald, Olivia, Colin, Young America, MN.

Preceding him in death are his parents, Carl and Esther, his wife, Betty, brother, Conrad, sister, Elaine Houghton and great granddaughter, Theodora Freeman.

The family requests memorials be made for the Conde Methodist Cemetery, %Plains Commerce Bank, PO Box 179, Conde, SD 57434.

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