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James Christian Jensen, age 80, a lifelong resident of Kenosha, passed away on December 2, 2024 at his residence surrounded by the love of his devoted wife, Laurie.
Born on November 2, 1944 in Kenosha, Jim was the son of the late Edward and Alice (Smerchek) Jensen. On March 20, 1983, he married Laurie Pflueger in Las Vegas, and they shared a loving and steadfast marriage until his passing. Jim dedicated his life to education, teaching physical education at Salem Grade School for 33 years, and at Bristol Grade School for 17 years. He also enjoyed coaching basketball at St. Joseph's High School and Westosha Central High School, leaving a lasting impact on his students and athletes. He retired from Bristol Grade School in June of 2024. Jim found great fulfillment in helping young people grow and succeed, and he was proud of the many lives he influenced over the years.
Outside of his career, Jim was passionate about the water, spending his free time waterskiing, boating, and swimming whenever he could. He also loved traveling the world with Laurie and cherished the time he spent with his family. Jim is survived by his wife, Laurie Jensen; children, Jill (Michael Zwirgzdas) Jensen, Jennifer Kozak, and Jaclyn (Chamous) Duhachk; and five grandchildren; siblings Jay (Edie) Jensen and Bonnie Erickson; mother in law, Juanita Pflueger; and brothers in law, Mark Pflueger, Scott Pflueger and Steve Pflueger.
As per the family's wishes, services will be held privately. A celebration of Jim's life will be held in January. Casey Family Options
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Charles O. Haubrich
After graduating in 1964, Jim Jensen invited Mitch Urbanski, Bobby Ziesemer, and me to water ski at Silver Lake. Although our first time skiing, Bobby and I were able to get up after a few attempts. But Mitch was much heavier than us and Jim's boat could not accelerate fast enough to get him up. Our solution: Mitch would sit on a pier leaving about 10 feet of slack in the tow line so the boat could gain enough momentum to get him up. Well poor Mitch (too bad we didn't have cameras back then) launched off the pier head first. After one more attempt, he gave up. Fortunately, Mitch wasn't hurt and went on to play basketball at Tulane a couple months later.
Keith N. Lindgren
I can't believe this. I so saddened by this news. I knew Jim was missing from our 60th class reunion in September but had no idea why and I wasn't in Kenosha long enough to try to track him down! Now, I regret that, very much! Jim and I were best of buds at Bradford. Even though he was from Lincoln and I was from McKinley/Washington, I never held that against him.
We were on the swim team together and hung out a whole heck of a lot. My heart goes out to his wife Laurie, sister Bonnie and the entire Jensen family!!
Ronald Selin
I went to Columbus elementary, Lincoln, junior high, and Bradford with Jim. We grew up together, living only a few houses away in our neighborhood. Spent many hours water skiing on Silver Lake with Jim. One day the motor went out on Jim's boat he drove in the water, put a rope around his waist and pull the boat back to the dock swimming all the way !