Karen Lee Jensen, 79, passed away Thursday, November 9, 2023, at the Big Sandy Medical Center of natural causes. There will be public viewing held on Nov 16, 2023 at Benton Funeral Home from 2 pm-6 pm. Her funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Friday, November 17, 2023, at the Community Bible Church in Fort Benton. Her burial will follow at the Riverside Cemetery. There will be a gathering at the Community Bible Rec Center following burial to share memories and have refreshments. Please visit Karen's online memorial to send a card or leave a message of condolence for the family at http://www.bentonfh.com.
Karen was born April 16, 1944, in Fort Benton, Montana to Harold and Thelma (Ryan) Fowler. She was raised in Fort Benton and attended schools in Loma and Fort Benton, graduating in 1962. She also attended the University of Montana. She married her high school sweetheart Jerry Jensen October 7, 1964. The couple made their home on the Jensen family farm Northwest of Loma. Karen was the ultimate wife; she would cook for harvest, drive trucks and tractors, along with keeping the books for the farm. She always helped with whatever was needed and did all of this while maintaining her job at the Loma Post Office. In 1976 she was the Post Officer in Charge and in 1988 she was promoted to Post Master. She retired from the U.S. Postal Service in 2012. The post office in Loma was the bus stop. Karen looked forward to kids coming into the post office to say hello, pick up candy, warm up, or to even get help with their homework.
They say it takes a village to make things happen, Karen was that village. She served on the boards of the Sunrise Bluffs and the Loma museum as well as keeping the museums books. She headed up the 4th of July celebration in Loma and helped organize multiple class reunions. She was instrumental in creating the Loma community cookbook and the "Alumni Memories" which was a listing of everyone who graduated from Fort Benton, otherwise known as the "School Bible". Karen was a longtime member of the Community Bible Church.
She was known as "Auntie Karen" to everyone she met. She had many talents; she decorated cakes, made jewelry, knitted, painted, made candy, and she was an accomplished seamstress. She could sew anything and always had her home decorated beautifully. She and Jerry loved to travel; they cruised many times enjoying the Caribbean and the Panama Canal. Her favorite place to vacation though was Hawaii. They had just celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary.
After retirement Karen enjoyed staying at home caring for her St. Bernards, kittens, Hungarian pheasants and watering the deer and antelope. She enjoyed watching all of the wildlife from her large picture window that faced the Highwood Mountains.
She was preceded in death by her parents, sister Linda Marino and brother-in-law, Dan Handford.
Karen is survived by her husband of 59 years Jerry Jensen. Her kitties' Rusty and Dusty. Sister, Mary Handford and her children: Angie Handford; Glenda (Joe) Horner; Barbie (Ken) Martin and Danny (Amber) Handford. Brother-in-law; Kenneth (Ronda) Jensen and their children: Keith Jensen; Ronald (Stacy) Jensen. Sister-in-laws: Janet (Robert) Girard and their children: Cali (Peter) Miller and Bri (Mike) Rhem. Connie (Cees) Holcombe and their children: Dawn Moltzan and Tauna Locatelli. She also had and was loved by numerous great nieces and nephews.
