Janice Joan Jacobsen

Janice Joan (Juel) Jacobsen was born February 22, 1930 in Oakfield Township Southeast of Elk Horn on the farm to Hans & Esther (Andersen) Juel. She was baptized at Oak Hill Lutheran Church in Brayton & confirmed at the Elk Horn Lutheran Church. Janice graduated from Elk Horn High School in 1948. August 22, 1948 Janice married her high school sweetheart Virgil M. Hansen at Elk Horn Lutheran Church. To this union was born, Dan, Deb, & Mark. The family lived in Kimballton until 1958 when Virgil was transferred to Estherville & to Des Moines in 1963. In Des Moines Janice especially enjoyed working at Drake University. Virgil & Janice worked in Property Management for several years as well.

On June 18, 1994 Janice married Virgil Jacobsen at Luther Memorial Church in Des Moines. They enjoyed traveling & being active at Luther Memorial & Danish Brotherhood. They both worked part time at McLaren's Funeral Home for several years. Their time together was some of the best times of her life. She was a true servant of her Lord as she helped those in need, spending her time crocheting dozens of prayer shawls, volunteering at Hospice of Iowa, helping people with her Reflexology practice, & baking food for others. She raised her children as proud Danes with many an open-faced sandwich, frikadiller or aebleskiver. In November of 2014 Janice made the decision to go back "home" to the Danish Villages. It was extremely hard to leave her cat Precious. She lived in an apartment in Elk Horn until April of 2016 when she chose to move to Salem Lutheran Homes due to her progressing dementia. During these few years in Elk Horn she & daughter Deb had times of fun, travel & ice cream whenever possible! Those at Salem soon grew to know all about Janice's "p & v", as she called it, as she loved to give them light hearted ribbing. She showed appreciation & thankfulness for them, never once complaining to her family. A big part of her life has been her relationships with her friends & their fun trips, grandkids & great grandkids. She was a strong woman of faith & loved her Lord. She voiced in 2016 that she was ready to die if God called her, envisioning herself paragliding into the arms of Jesus, directing Deb to include this in her obituary. Indeed she is now in His loving arms.

Janice is preceded in death by her parents, older sister LaVonne, who passed away at age four from polio, her brother Howard Juel, her first husband Virgil Hansen, husband Virgil Jacobsen, & grandson Bryan Hansen; sisters in law & brothers in law Kaja Juel, Allan & Francis Hansen, Leland & Ann Hansen, Howard Sorensen & Allan Jacobsen; and son in law Dean Jacobsen.

She is survived by her son Dan (Carol) Hansen, Des Moines, Deb (James) Bieker, Elk Horn, Mark (Teri) Hansen, Urbandale; sister in laws Alice Sorensen, Underwood and Leona Juel, Atlantic; Bill & Virginia Jacobsen, Des Moines, Blanche Jacobsen, Audubon; 9 grandchildren Chad (Amy), Waukesha, WI; Ryan (Melissa) Jacobsen, Iowa City; Heather (Ben) Yost, West Des Moines; Heidi (Matt) Carlson, Omaha, Dena Putnam, Omaha, Holly Hansen, Urbandale, Kiersten Hansen, Urbandale, Danielle (Mike) Carlson, Ft. Dodge, & Alex Hansen, West Des Moines; 18 great-grandchildren, additional family, many friends & special friend Don Lebeck of Salem Lutheran Homes.

Janice passed away January 8, 2020 at Salem Lutheran Homes after a brief respiratory illness at the age of 89 years, 11 months & 14 days. Visitation will be Saturday, January 11 from 9 - 11:00 a.m. at Elk Horn Lutheran Church in Elk Horn. Services will be Saturday, January 11 at 11:00 am at the church, with private burial in Elk Horn Lutheran Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Myrtue Medical Center Hospice in Harlan.