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Marvel Jeanette Hensel

March 15, 1922 — November 16, 2017

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Past Services

Visitation

Messiah Lutheran Church

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

10:00 - 11:30 am (Central time)

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Funeral Service

Messiah Lutheran Church

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Starts at 11:30 pm (Central time)

View Details

Marvel Jeanette Hensel

?Marvel Jeanette Hensel, age 95, passed away on November 16, 2017, in North Mankato, Minnesota.

Services will be held on Tuesday, November 21 at Messiah Lutheran Church, 1706 Lee Blvd, North Mankato, MN 56003. A visitation will be held at 10 a.m., followed by a funeral service at 11:30 a.m. Afterward will be military honors, followed by lunch at the church.

On March 15, 1922, Marvel was born to Peter and Thora Jorgenson of Vienna, South Dakota. Her parents later moved the family to Jesse Lake, Minnesota, where Marvel grew up with her brothers and sisters on a farm with no electricity or running water. Marvel grew up speaking Norwegian and didn’t learn English until she began attending school.

After graduating from Deer River High School, Marvel moved to Saint Paul to work at a defense manufacturing plant. She rode the streetcar to get to work every day. In the summer of 1945, she decided to join the Navy, and after the surrender by Japan she was given an honorable discharge.

Following her service in the Navy, Marvel returned to Jesse Lake to visit her parents. It was there that she met a handsome soldier just returned from the war. She always said she knew right away that this soldier, Robert Herman Hensel, was the man she was going to marry. Robert proved Marvel right on April 27, 1946, when they took a Greyhound bus from Grand Rapids to be married in Saint Paul. They moved to Bigfork and made a home in a log cabin her in-laws had homesteaded in the early 1900s.

In 1947, Marvel began working for the North Itasca Electric Co-op, which at the time was known as REA. There were very few jobs for women in their small logging community, much less jobs where she could wear high heels, dresses and jewelry. She was always very thankful for this job, where she developed many friendships and became highly respected over 40 years of service. She was a true wonder woman, working a full-time job and raising four children, and she always had a hot breakfast on the table. During this time she was also involved with the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the church board, Ladies Aid, the VFW, and the list goes on.

In 1987, Marvel retired so that she and Bob could enjoy traveling to visit family. Her life changed in May 1993, when Bob passed away. Although she never stopped loving or missing him, she continued to lead an active life, spending the winters as a snowbird in Texas and volunteering at a local elementary school. She loved helping and working with children, and they loved her back. She continued to live in Bigfork until 2003, when she sold the Hensel homestead and moved to North Mankato to be closer to family. Later, she moved to Oak Terrace Senior Living, where she received wonderful care from loving staff.

Marvel’s love for her family will be remembered in so many ways. She was a wonderful cook, and best-known for her blueberry pie, butterhorn rolls, and, of course, lefse. She loved playing games: Her grandchildren remember that she would pretend to not know how to play the game before beating everyone. She loved jewelry and doing her hair: It’s possible that no one ever saw Marvel when she wasn’t well-dressed.

Marvel was also a gracious, loving, praying Christian woman. She lived her life for the Lord and trusted Him always. Although life was not always easy on her, she always kept her eyes on Jesus. Normally, when you ask someone to pray for you, they say, “I will.” But when you asked Marvel, she would say, “I do!”

Marvel is preceded in death by her parents, Peter and Thora Jorgenson of Jesse Lake, Minnesota; her husband, Robert Hensel; brothers Arlo and Walter Sherman Jorgenson; her sister, Gloria Wicklund; and son-in-laws Harold Eggum and Bruce Rhoades. She is survived by two brothers, Russell and Stanley Jorgenson; her sister, Sheila Windt; her four children, Sonja Noe (Ron), Beverly Howland (Dave), Wade Hensel (Mary Jo), and Lola Rhoades; her nine grandchildren, Robert, Melissa, Alissa, Katie, Bill, Brooke, Andrea, Peter, and Haley; and 15 great-grandchildren.

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