Descendents receive Aksarben Award
Article from Fremont Tribune
Thursday, 12 Aug 2004
By Beverly J. Lydick/Tribune staff
It's not every day someone comes to the door and asks to see the upstairs bedroom.
But years ago, when an elderly woman made that request of Jack and Opal Jensen, they kindly obliged, taking their visitor through the two-story frame house which stands on their Washington County farm known as Highland View.
"She said she'd spent her wedding night there," says Opal. "She remembered how cozy the bedroom was."
"She had to be 100 years old," adds Jack.
But age hadn't dimmed the woman's nuptial memories. After so many years, she still remembered the fragrance of a lilac bush planted near the front door.
The lilac bush and the 119-year-old house are still there. So are the descendants of Danish immigrant Soren Jensen, who first arrived in the area in 1866 and stayed to build a life.
That life, spread now over six generations, will be recognized Sunday when Jack and Opal receive a 2004 Aksarben Farm Family Award at the Washington County Fair. The Aksarben award, co-sponsored by the Nebraska Association of Fair Managers, acknowledges families in Nebraska whose land has been owned by the same family for 100 years or more.
Almost 5,200 families in 91 counties have been honored since the program began in the 1960s. But not all award winners can say their families have actually lived on their farms all those years.
The Jensens can.
In 1888, Jack's great-grandparents, Soren and Ane Sine, lived on the 160 acres in Lincoln Township northeast of Arlington. The next tenants were Jack's grandparents, J.P. and Emma Jensen in 1920, followed by his parents, Howard and Marie Jensen in 1938.
Jack, who was born in the white frame house, and Opal came to live on the farm in 1953. They reside today just south of the original house in a modern ranch-style home surrounded by flowers, trees and memories.
Looking out across the lawn to the rolling fields below, Opal says, "I remember walking through that gate with my little kids. We'd go exploring. We had so much fun."
The Jensens' daughter, Jackie Dawson, lives today with her husband, Brad, in North Platte, but son Mark and his wife, Mary, reside within sight of Jack and Opal's home, a few hundred yards to the south.
The youngest son, Timothy Dean, died in 1977 at age 17. In 1983, his parents built a backyard gazebo and put up a plaque that bears his name.
"Tim would have been our farmer," says Opal. "But it's not to be."
There are other tokens of remembrance scattered throughout the farmstead - a towering oak tree planted in 1969, honoring the birth of the couple's first grandson; a giant bell from March School District 31, where Jack attended classes for 10 years; another oak, more recently planted, which was a Father's Day gift.
This week, the Jensens will oversee the positioning of a large decorative stone on their front lawn. It reads, "Jensen Highland View Farm 1888" and honors the memory of all the Jensens who went before.
"We just happen to be the ones who came along later," says Jack. "Those who survived the bad years should get the credit."
Fremont Tribune
Thursday, 12 Aug 2004