Aileen Durfee Jensen

TWIN FALLS – Aileen Durfee Jensen, age 100, of Twin Falls, and formerly of the Mini-Cassia area, passed away on Monday, July 22, 2013, in Twin Falls.

Our dear mother was born on Oct. 26, 1912, to Lorenzo and Anna Abby (Bruesch) Durfee in Almo, Idaho. She was the fourth child and first daughter in a happy family that eventually grew to be 12 children. They were a busy bunch – their days were filled with chores around the farm and home, playing with friends and a plentitude of cousins.

Aileen's mother was firm in her desire to teach her girls the skills they would need to be a wife and mother but, they preferred to help their playful dad on the farm.

Aileen graduated from Rupert High School and Albion State Normal School teachers’ college. Her first teaching job included cleaning the outhouses and starting the fire in three rooms.

A good friend, named Lyman Jensen, came calling and they were married in the Salt Lake LDS Temple on June 20, 1935. Their children are, Cleon (Connie) Jensen of Twin Falls, JoAnn (Jerry) Gross of Spokane,Wash., Lylis (Dennis) Blair of Kanarraville, Utah, Verus Young of Las Vegas, Nev., Bernie (Ginny) Jensen of Rock Springs, Wyo., and Darryl (Donnie) Jensen of Mattawa, Wash.

The family farmed in the Rupert/Emerson/Paul area. They worked together and enjoyed success there. In 1955, they moved their family to Othello, Wash., and opened a retail store. Aileen taught 5th grade and also earned her librarian certificate. She was a school librarian until she retired. In 1975, they bought a home in Yuma, Arizona. They enjoyed the winter sunshine, the pool, riding bikes, and helping on the welfare grapefruit orchard. For many summers they fished for salmon in the Strait of Juan De Fuca.

Their family circle has grown from six children to 25 grandchildren, 78 great-grandchildren, and 12 great-great-grandchildren.

In 2006, they moved to Sequim, Wash., to live next door to their daughter, JoAnn and her husband, Jerry. We have so appreciated their help and devotion to our parents. Lyman and Aileen celebrated 76 years of marriage before dad passed away on Jan. 11, 2012. Mom was also preceded in death by six siblings; a son-in-law; and three grandchildren.

Goodbye to our kind, loving, intelligent mom.

The funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, July 25, at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St., in Burley, where friends and family may call one hour prior to the service. Burial will follow at the Riverside Cemetery in Heyburn.

We truly appreciate the kindness and care given our mother the last few weeks of her life by the men and women at St. Luke's Hospice Care of Twin Falls. We also greatly appreciate the care given to our mother by Connie and Cleon since she moved to Twin Falls to be with them the first of March this year.