Jacob Sens

Grandpa was born on October 23rd, 1915 to Frank and Margaret Sens in the Neudorf area. He was the fourth oldest in the family of three boys and six girls- Fred, Tillie, Lena, Jake, Katie, Lil, Willie, Margaret, and Elsie. He attended Duck’s Point School. Here he attained his grade 8 before electing to stay home to help full time on the family farm.

In 1940, at the age of 25, he married Mary Ulmer and they took up farming in the Qu’Appelle Valley. They loved to go dancing and would take in the barn dances at the Piller and Steininger farms. About a year later their first child, Vern, was born. He was soon followed by their other three sons Ralph, Glenn and Ron.

In the late 40’s they moved to Grenfell where Grandpa drove truck for the Endel Bros. and worked for Hack’s Garage. In 1951 they moved to the Moffat District south of Wolseley to farm. While farming, Grandpa also started hauling house trailers with Uncle Freddie. Later on, he owned his own truck and hauled trailers as well.

In 1958 they moved back to Grenfell where he continued to drive truck, this time for Schlamp’s Garage, Wolfe’s Garage and Willie Wolfe. After that Grandpa got into road construction with Granny’s brother Uncle Jakie (Ulmer Construction) and Cummin’s Construction. He also worked nights at the Esso Service Station at this time.

In 1974 granny and grandpa moved out to Surrey, BC to manage an apartment block. But in 1975 they moved back to Regina to be closer to their grandchildren that they missed dearly. Here Grandpa started working at Cindercrete making cement blocks. We think this is where his hearing took the biggest beating! After this, grandpa went back to driving truck with Richard’s Transport.

In 1980 grandpa retired at the age of 65 but continued to help his sons on the farm and drove truck with them.

In 1985 granny and grandpa moved to Broadview where they enjoyed the company of Uncle Henry and Aunt Lena.

In the early 90’s granny and grandpa were faced with the incredible hardship of saying goodbye to two of their four boys, Ralph in 1991 and Glenn in 1993.

In 2002 they moved to the units in Grenfell. A few years later granny moved into the Grenfell Pioneer Home and grandpa followed a few years later in September of 2007. Grandpa enjoyed phenomenal health for the majority of his life which allowed him to do many of the things he loved! Even at the age of 95 he joined Papa on the milk truck and at Dimler’s. We all thought he would need help getting into the truck but he was in before any of us even had time to think! At the pioneer home grandpa continued his good sense of humour by hiding housekeeping carts, unplugging vacuum cleaners, untying aprons and being a general pest!

On March 25th, 2009 granny and grandpa celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary!

On December 1st around 4 o’clock in the morning grandpa quietly went to join granny at the ripe and tender age of 97.

Grandpa Doke was the best grandpa ever! How many people are lucky enough to say they knew their great grandparents like we have?

For as far back as any of us can remember, there has always been Dairy Queen! We all learnt at a very young age that ice cream fixes everything! He very much enjoyed his ice cream right to the very end. He’s probably having one right now!

We all have memories of camping trips, Gopherville, the ding-a-ling man, coffee time and homemade sausage, perogies and noodles with grandpa!

Speaking of the ding-a-ling man, when my mom Lorrie and her brother Kevin, were little grandpa would keep them in suspense by pretending to sleep when the all important sound of ding-a-lings would come down the street. Previously, they had gotten into trouble for bugging grandpa for money so they would hint heavily. Miraculously he would wake up at the last second and reach into his pocket for some change and mom and Uncle Kev would go tearing down the street, usually at the very end of the street by this point, to catch the ding-a-ling man for the all important ice cream!

Many of you know grandpa as Jake Sens but to us he will always be Grandpa Doke! As little people, grandpa would always take us with him for coffee where we would always get a coke! As a little guy, Brian couldn’t pronounce the “c” in coke so when he would ask grandpa if he could go with, it always sounded more like “doke”! This just stuck and we all had Granny and Grandpa Doke after that!

Grandpa was very good at building things. He built everyone a glider chair, numerous folding tables and stools, birdhouses and my favourite, the ducks with the spinning wings. These were my favourite because we were lucky enough to add our artist’s touch with all kinds of paint! Generally we would make a horrendous mess but grandpa never said a word! He just let us giver!

Birthdays will never be the same without all of our ears being pulled! For as long as I can remember that was the first thing grandpa would do when he’d see us the day of our birthdays! He would smile big, tell us happy birthday and pull our ears as many times as we were old! Eventually we all got big enough to turn this around on him but it would take us forever as 97 was a lot!

Grandpa Doke was generally a man of few words. He was a stubborn man and when he would make a decision that was it! He would put his giant foot down and use his hand signals to let you know what he thought! You didn’t have to guess that’s for sure! A swooping motion usually meant that he was done and a fist, usually combined with a big grin, meant anything from hello, goodbye, thank you and I Love You!

We could certainly go on forever telling stories for there are countless memories that grandpa has lovingly engraved in our hearts. Grandpa was dearly loved by everyone that knew him, especially his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. He will be greatly missed.

We love you so much!

(Shaking Fist) Grandpa, we sure do miss you!

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JACOB JOSEPH (JAKE) SENS

October 23, 1915 – December 1, 2012

On Saturday, December 1, 2012 Jake Sens, Grenfell, SK. died at the age of 97 years. The funeral service will be held at Peace Lutheran Church, Grenfell, SK. on Friday, December 14, 2012 at 2:00 pm with Rev. Gerald Bruce Andersen officiating. Interment in St. Joseph’s Riverside Cemetery, North Grenfell. Jake was predeceased by his wife Mary in 2008; two sons, Ralph in 1991 and Glenn in 1993, his parents and his eight siblings. He is survived by two sons: Vern (Joan) and Ron (Liz); daughter-in-law, Linda Sens; his grandchildren: Lorrie (Joe) Frasz; Kevin (Marianne) Sens, Melanie (Chris) Dahlman, Rick Sens, Brad (Michelle) Sens, Rhonda Sens, Claudine Sens, Sherry (Norm) LeBlanc, Jennifer (Ben) Wooley, David (Tiegan) Sens; his great grandchildren: Brian (Cortné), Tammy (Tyler), Tracy (Camille), Jaymee, Paige, Kyle, Kirsten, Jake, Brandon, Travis, Steven, Brittany, Jordan, Austin, Emily and Owen; four great great grandchildren: Tucker, Kaeden, Mitchell, Adley and numerous nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, if friends so desire contributions may be made to Peace Lutheran Church Memorial Fund, Box 633, Grenfell, SK. S0G 2B0, Grenfell Level IV Care Home Fund, c/o Town of Grenfell, Box 1120, Grenfell, SK. S0G 2B0 or to the Grenfell and District Pioneer Home, Box 760, Grenfell, SK. S0G 2B0 as tokens. Arrangements in care of Tubamn Cremation and Funeral Services (1-800-667-8962)