Sophie L. Jensen, 89, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and a longtime resident of Humboldt, South Dakota, passed away on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at Ava’s House in Sioux Falls.
Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 16, at St. Ann’s Catholic Church, 409 W. 4th Ave., Humboldt, South Dakota, with burial at St. Ann’s Catholic Cemetery. Visitation with the family present to greet friends will be from 5:30-7 p.m. with a wake at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 15, at the church.
Sophie Tkacik was born at home on the family farm at Lockhart District near Rimbey, Alberta, Canada. Sophie’s parents, Jozef and Alzbeta (Elizabeth) Tkacik, and her five older siblings had emigrated from Slovakia to Canada. Sophie was the sixth child of seven, and the first Tkacik child born in Canada.
Sophie grew up on the family ranch near Leedale, Alberta. She graduated high school from St. Joseph’s Convent in Red Deer, Alberta, and received her teaching degree from the University of Edmonton. She started her teaching career at the one room schoolhouse in Homeglen, Alberta, teaching grades one through eight. Sophie walked several miles to and from school and would pass by the Jensen farm every day. One day she was walking home in pouring rain when the Jensens’ son offered to drive her home out of the rain. Sophie married Gordon Lars Jensen on September 1, 1954 in the little country church in Leedale. Both sets of their parents also shared that anniversary date.
The couple was blessed with six children, three girls and three boys. Sophie continued to teach and substitute teach at various schools for several more years. Gordon and Sophie raised their family on farms in the Ponoka and Red Deer areas and later moved into Red Deer. Due to Gordon’s job transfer, the family immigrated to the United States, to Billings, Montana, in May of 1967.
In 1972 Gordon’s job took the family to South Dakota where they made their home on a farm near Pumpkin Center. For a time, Sophie worked as a dietary aide at Good Samaritan Village in Sioux Falls. Later Gordon and Sophie moved into Humboldt where they built their own fertilizer company, N-Rich Plant Food, Inc. Sophie worked there at the family company as office and logistics manager.
Gordon and Sophie moved to Buena Vista, Colorado, for five years where Sophie managed a motel on a lake. They enjoyed fishing and traveling around the U.S. and Canada. They returned to Humboldt, South Dakota, later to work with son Dan again at N-Rich until their retirement.
Sophie lost her beloved husband of 63 years on Feb. 18, 2017. After Gordon passed away, Sophie moved to an apartment at Sunny Crest Village in Sioux Falls, where she enjoyed time with old and new friends, playing many games and doing activities together. She loved time with family playing the marble game or the Slovak card game of HOLA. She passed down her mother’s awesome old country recipe for Kolache, and she gave the greatest hugs!
Sophie was an active member of St. Ann’s Parish in Humboldt for many years. She was very devoted to her Catholic faith and prayed the Rosary nightly. And when she left this world she was ready to meet her Lord and Savior in heaven.
Sophie is survived by Deborah (Verlyn) Letsche, rural Humboldt, Karen (Mark) Willers, rural Beaver Creek, Minnesota, Dan (Jodi) Jensen, Hartford, South Dakota, Christopher (Cheryl) Jensen, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Rita (John) Jensen-Shelso, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Richard (Lori) Jensen, rural Humboldt; 13 grandchildren, Brad (Cate) Willers, Patricia (Mario) Willers, Nicole (Kyle) Woodley, Natalie (Robert) Golden, Matthew (Jennifer) Jensen, Kayla (Kevin) Jackson, Kyle (Laura) Jensen, Kimberly (Michael) Marcell, Whitney (Austin) Vockrodt, Eric (Rachel) Meinke, Brooke (Jason) Metz, Michael (Rachel) Jensen, and Brendan (girlfriend, Sydney) Jensen; and great-grandchildren Lillian and Owen Willers, Hannah, Emmett, Felicity and Aidan Woodley, Alexander Golden, Payton (Jensen) Oberg and Marcus (Jensen) Oberg, Stella and Daniel Jensen, Cassian and Callum Vockrodt, and Miles and Eva Metz.
She is also survived by her sister, Mary Naslund, and sister-in-law Orva Tkacik in Canada, as well as numerous nieces and nephews and their families on both the Tkacik and Jensen sides of the family in Canada and the United States.
Sophie was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Gordon; an infant great-granddaughter, Josephine Marcell; her brothers and sisters-in-law Frank (Anne) Tkacik, Johnny (Marie) Tkacik, Valent Tkacik; and her sisters and brothers-in-law Elizabeth (Bud) Williams, Agnes (Ernie) Satnik, Gunnar Naslund; as well as Gordon’s sister, brothers and their spouses.
In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Humboldt Fire and Ambulance or Sanford Ava’s House Hospice, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.