Cliff Jensen Sr. Obituary (1924

Clifton Edmund Jensen, our beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle, brother, and friend, finished his earthly mission and returned to heaven, February 20, 2019, at the age of 94. We will miss him. Born on May 22, 1924, at home, in Payson, Utah, he was the 2nd child of Wilma Tanner Jensen and Edmund Waldemar Jensen. After graduating from Payson High School in 1942, he joined the United States Navy. During World War II, he served as a storekeeper on the supply ship Kaskaskia in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and in the South Pacific. During the war he met Maxine Jacobs in Long Beach, California. He was too shy to meet her so his mother arranged an introduction. They were married in Long Beach on December 26, 1944 and later sealed in the Manti Utah Temple in 1955. After marriage they moved to Provo, Utah to get his degree at BYU. After 2 years of student teaching in Dragerton, Utah, they moved with their two adorable daughters and son to Southern California to teach school. He worked as a school teacher in Anaheim, and to help make ends meet he worked as a seasonal ride operator at the new theme park, Disneyland. He worked on all of the Fantasyland rides, especially Dumbo and Peter Pan. During the first few years in Anaheim two more sons joined the family. In 1961 he was promoted to be a school counselor and then a vice-principal. He worked at Orange View, Ball and Brookhurst Junior High schools. He retired from the Anaheim School District in 1984 and moved to Provo, Utah in 1987. During his time in Anaheim he would return to Utah every summer with his family for camping and fishing along the Fremont River. His hobbies included fishing, camping, target shooting, racquetball, riding his Honda 90 and making his patented whirligigs by the hundreds using just aluminum cans and wire clothes hangers. If you don’t have one, then you must not be from this planet. He also played in the Payson City Band while in his youth and after he returned to Utah in 1987 until 2016. He and mom worked as campground hosts and they traveled to see many of the civil war battle sites during their retirement. In 2016 he traveled with his son Cliff on the Utah Honor Flight to Washington DC with many other World War II veterans to see the war memorials. He and Mom were married for 64 years before her passing in 2009. He longed to be back with her again. In November of 2009 he married Mary Roach and they lived together in her home in Palmyra, Utah. They were wonderful companions until her passing in 2017. He has lived in the Mervyn Sharp Bennion Central Utah Veterans Home for the past year enjoying the excellent care provided by the wonderful caregivers. We are deeply grateful to those at the Payson Veterans Home, and First Choice Hospice, whose loving and professional care and friendship made his last months comfortable and happy. He was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Verna Rohbock and brother, Gene House. He is survived by his daughters, Susan Allene (Imre) Kertesz and Linda Louise (Terry) Jensen; sons, Clifton Edmund (Jeanette) Jensen, Jr., Murry Edward (Rheta) Jensen and Clay Edwin (Cathy) Jensen; brothers, Gerald Jensen and Jack House; sister, Sylvia Messner; 21 grandchildren and 47 great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at the Pioneer 1st Ward Chapel, 376 North 700 West, Provo, Utah. Friends may visit with the family from 9:30-10:45 a.m. prior to services. Interment will be in the Santaquin City Cemetery. Condolences may be expressed at www.bergmortuary.com.