Gale Henry Jenson

Gale Henry Jenson passed away peacefully in his home in Tumwater, with his loved ones at his bedside the evening of April 3rd, 2020.

Gale is survived by his wife of 44 years, Margaret Jenson and their children Rick Jenson, Jenny Erlanger, Dave Durden, Marlene Gaspar, Randy Carlson, Penny Jenson, Mike Carlson, and Sandie Pearson. He is survived by 2 brothers and their wives, Larry and Christy Jenson and Kenny and Marilyn Jenson. Also surviving are 19 Grandchildren, 23 Great Grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.

Preceding Gale in death are his parents, Hank and Wanda Jenson, his sister and brother-in-law, Vivian and Ted Adams and three of his children, Val Jenson, Tracy Jenson and Yvonnda Uphold.

Gale was one of five children of Hank and Wanda Jenson. He was born December 16th 1929 in Meridian, Idaho. His siblings are Vivian Adams, Kenny Jenson, Ronnie Jenson, and Larry Jenson; only two now survive.

In 1943 his parents moved the family to Tumwater, Washington, where Hank purchased a country store on the corner of Little Rock & Israel Roads, known as Hank’s Corner, a warm and friendly spot known well to all the nearby residents. Gale graduated from Olympia High school in 1948 and worked in the family store. In 1950, Gale married Lulumay Gibson and they had five children together: Rick, Val, Jenny, Tracy & Penny, they divorced in 1973.

In 1975, Gale married Margaret Louise Kinney and became a devoted and loving father to her six children. Together they raised 11 children and were married 43 years. Gale was very committed to his family, he enjoyed family poker parties, Sunday dinners and spending time with their grandchildren. He would love to tease just to get a reaction and a laugh. Even at the end his priority was his wife and his family, making sure everyone would be okay.

From 1959-1986, Gale, Hank and brother Kenny built a successful family business known as Capitol Auto Parts. They turned this into one of the largest auto parts/salvage yards in the area. After Gale and Kenny sold Capitol Auto Parts, Gale created a small business known as ‘Jenson Cores’ where he enjoyed traveling around the South Sound in his truck collecting salvaged auto parts, scrap iron and most of all visiting with his many friends. He was a very successful “scrapper” and always very generous with his earnings and always ready to help out any family members in need. Generosity was clearly one of his most well-known traits.

Gale had the best sense of humor and couldn’t wait to tell jokes and make people laugh or sing silly little songs to his kids and grandkids. It would be almost impossible to find someone that would utter a bad word about Gale.

One of Gale’s favorite pastimes was deer hunting and his entire extended family participated. They were known for their large weekend family deer camps with a warm campfire, good food supplied by sister Vivian, poker games and cold beer. Everyone agreed that Gale was the “Champion Deer Hunter”, even though his sense of direction faltered, he was always successful at dragging a nice buck back to camp.

Later in life, Gale loved to go to the casinos to play cards, he loved garage sales and bidding on storage units and he would often win the contents. He and became quite an experienced user of Craigslist to sell all the junk he acquired. We joked that he would sell his kids for the right price. After he turned 90 he liked to jokingly say that he is so old that he’s outliving all his friends and his money.

Gale was a generous and devoted husband, dad, grandpa and friend who will be missed dearly by many.

A service will take place for immediate family members only. For everyone else, please see the guidelines below:

For the family and friends of Mr. Gale Jenson,

My name is Sarah and I am the funeral director working with your family. My condolences for your loss, you are all in my thoughts during this difficult time.

I want to give you the most meaningful experience possible under the current conditions. The plan is to coordinate something similar to a receiving line. Family members and friends will line up on designated marks, waiting their turn to walk under the porte-cochère and enter the chapel to individually view Mr. Jenson.

The viewing is scheduled from 10am–Noon on Friday, April 17, 2020 at Mills & Mills Funeral Home, 5725 Littlerock Rd SW, Tumwater, WA 98512. If more time is needed we will accommodate to give everyone the opportunity to say goodbye.

Out of an abundance of caution and Governor Inslee’s proclamation on funerals we need everyone attending to abide by the following social distancing plan:

1. If you are sick, stay home

2. Utilize respiratory etiquette

3. Develop new family greeting practices such as head nods or a wave or other non-touching gestures

4. Maintaining a minimum of six-foot physical distance from any person not living at your same address is required

* Six-foot increments (using adhesive colored tape or chalk) on the ground/floor will be marked to ensure social distancing.

* Funeral Home Staff will monitor and facilitate social distancing.

Instructions for the day of the visitation and graveside service (Parking Lot Attendants will guide you):

1. Pull into the Mills & Mills Funeral Home main entrance and park in front of the funeral home.

2. Please walk around to the back of the Funeral Home using the road that separates the Memorial Park and Funeral Home.

3. You’ll see marks six-feet apart. Please line up, one person per mark except for young children who need to stay with their caretaker.

4. Mr. Jenson will be in his casket in the chapel and the large doors from the porte-cochère to the chapel will be open. Privacy screens will be strategically placed to prevent wandering eyes from passersby.

5. Please do not touch the casket.

6. If you want to place something in the casket with him you will be able to do so at that time. I will be there to assist you.

7. Once you’ve had your time viewing and saying goodbye then you’ll need to continue walking around the outside of the building and get in your car.

8. Please do not gather in small groups in any of the parking lots or in the funeral home. We want to ensure everyone gets the opportunity to view Mr. Jenson and this will only be possible if everyone follows the plan.

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns. I am here for you.

Sincerely,

Sarah Cannon

Funeral Director