In Memory of Virginia A. Jensen

Virginia A. Jensen, age 96, of Ida Grove, Iowa, passed away on Friday, December 11, 2020, at the Willow Dale Wellness Village of Battle Creek, Iowa. 

A Funeral Service will be held at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, December 17, 2020, at the St. Paul Lutheran Church of Ida Grove, Iowa. Rev. Richard A. Salcido will officate. Committal will follow in the Ida Grove Cemetery of Ida Grove, Iowa. A visitation will be held one hour prior to the funeral service from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., on Thursday, December 17, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, masks are mandatory and social distancing rules apply during all services.          

The Christensen-Van Houten Funeral Home of Ida Grove, Iowa, is in charge of the funeral arrangements. Condolences may be sent online at www.christensenvanhouten.com

Virginia Ann Jensen was born at her grandparents’ home in Ida Grove, Iowa, to Reuben and Anna (Kolb) Johnson on December 31, 1923.

She was raised on a farm five miles southeast of Holstein, Iowa. She was baptized and confirmed in the Ida Grove Methodist Church. Virginia attended country school and graduated with the Ida Grove class of 1941. During high school she was active in Rainbow Girls and in 4-H. She took Normal Training during school and taught at a Corwin Township country school.

On October 15, 1944, Virginia married Roland Jensen while he was on leave from the Army Air Corp. She joined Roland at his station in Miami Beach, Florida, where she experienced her first and last hurricane.  After Roland was discharged in 1945, they made their home in Ida Grove where she worked at Wolf’s Store.

The couple were blessed with three children: Marilyn, Rodney and Richard. In the spring of 1946, they moved to a farm about a mile from where she was raised and continued to farm there until 1964 when they moved to the farm on HWY 59. Roland passed away in 1986 and she continued to live there until 2009, when she moved to Char-Mac Assisted Living in Holstein. She then moved to Willow Dale Wellness Village in Battle Creek, Iowa, in 2013, where she lived until her passing.

Virginia was a long time member of the St. Paul Lutheran Church of Ida Grove. She was a Sunday school and Vacation Bible School teacher and also a member of Mary Circle 7. She was active throughout her life with the Ida County Farm Bureau Women, Logan Homemakers Clubs, and the Ida County Fair where she was a 4-H leader and helped her mother with the open class flower show, later becoming the superintendent of the flower show.

Virginia loved flowers and had many flower and vegetable gardens. She also enjoyed sewing, quilting and scrapbooking. She was also known for her cinnamon rolls she made for any guys working at the farm.

She enjoyed many family camping trips to the western states and later in life she traveled to Roland’s Prisoner of War reunions in many parts of the US. After Roland’s death she had the opportunity to travel with the bank group to Hawaii, Alaska, England, and Germany.

Virginia is survived by her sons Rodney (Lin) Jensen of Ida Grove, IA and Richard (Holly) Jensen of Kalamazoo, MI; son-in-law Terry Lovett of Ida Grove, IA; grandchildren: Kelli Lovett and friend Randy Glau of Vermillion, SD; Mindi Mandernach and friend Joe Ness of Odebolt, IA, Ross (Meg) Jensen of Palto Alto, CA, Eric Jensen of Portland, OR, and Brett Jensen of Kalamazoo, MI; great grandchildren: Austin Reich of Vermillion, SD, Alexis Reich and fiancé Devon Anderson of Sioux Falls, SD, Karlie Mandernach and fiancé Kent Krager of Ida Grove, IA, Clayton Mandernach and Kacie Mandernach of Odebolt, IA; step grandchildren: Bridget Christiansen of Dayton, OH, Brent (Emily) Christiansen of Galva, IA, Beau Christiansen of Ames, IA, and Blake Christiansen of Ida Grove, IA; step great grandchildren: Juliet, Carver and Macy Christiansen of Ames and Mason, Lucas and Aubrey Christiansen of Galva; brother Ramon (Ginny) Johnson and sister Betty Butcher all of Holstein, IA; sister-in-law Vivian Jensen of Ida Grove, IA; along with many nieces, nephews, extended friends and family.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband of 42 years, Roland Jensen; daughter Marilyn Lovett; grandson-in-law Scott Mandernach; brothers-in-law: Herman Jensen, Ransom Leonard, Robert Butcher, and Robert Ruser; sisters-in-law: Helen Johnson, Evelyn Leonard, and Shirley Ruser.