Ethel M. Jensen

Ethel M. Jensen died in Bellingham, Washington on November 5, 2015, at the age of 94. She died peacefully, surrounded by her family. Ethel was born in Ohio on February 24, 1921, to Florence and Lynn Sprague. After high school in Hubbard, she attended the Ohio State University, graduating in 1943 with a bachelor's degree in Home Economics. She married Joseph L. Jensen Jr. in Providence, RI, on April 8, 1944, shortly before Joe was shipped to sea in the Navy. After raising four children, Ethel went back to school, earning an MA in Education from Villanova University in 1973. She recognized a need to provide support to non-traditional women students who, after a period of time in the workplace or raising children, were returning to school. She convinced Eastern College of this need, and was hired to create a new department designed to run workshops for, counsel, and assist these students in all areas of college life. Ethel also spent a year at Earlham College, (1981-82) as a visiting professor and student of Peace Studies. Not surprisingly, Ethel was a steadfast advocate and activist for peace, for civil liberties, and for the rights and dignity of women. After Joe's retirement from the ministry, Ethel and Joe embarked on a new life chapter, living and working on campus at Linfield College, the University of Tampa, Gettysburg College, the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, and finally Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. At Linfield, Ethel organized an international conference, “Finding Peace in the Nuclear Age”, assembling all living Nobel Peace Prize winners. In Carlisle, Ethel and Joe felt the most at home, and they lived there until moving to the Homewood Retirement Community in Hanover, PA, in 1995. Ethel is preceded in death by her husband Joseph, who died in 2010, and her brother David. Survivors include her four children, Joe, Mary, Lynn, and Mark; her sister, Lila; eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Ethel's family and many others will miss her bottomless empathy, her capacity for listening, her wisdom, and most of all her unqualified love. A memorial service will be held at 2 pm Thursday, November 19, 2015 at Homewood Chapel at Plum Creek. A second memorial service will be held later in the spring.  For further information, friends may contact Leslie at leslierobinsonmd@gmail.com . In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Valley Forge Presbyterian Church, 191 Town Center Rd, King of Prussia, PA 19406 or to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), 777 UN Plaza - 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017.


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