Lenora Dorothea Jensen was born in Agra, Kansas, on February 7, 1921, to John Christian Edwin Jensen and Clara (Kuhn) Jensen. She passed away on her 98th birthday. Lenora was the oldest of three children.
When Lenora was 15, she and her family moved to Monmouth, Oregon. They chose Monmouth after receiving a letter from her uncle who had moved to Salem and reported that Oregon was “the land of milk and honey”. After eking out a living in the Kansas dustbowl, Ed and Clara decided it was time to head west to a place where there was less dust and more educational opportunities for their children.
They moved into a house across the street from the Bond family, one of whom was a 15 year-old boy named Carl. Lenora graduated from Monmouth High School in 1938 and from Oregon Normal School (now Western Oregon University) in 1940 after which she taught in a one-room school in the Tillamook area. By this time, Lenora and her future husband, Carl E. Bond, were “an item”.
On December 7, 1 941, they were steelhead fishing on the Siletz River. When they returned to Monmouth, they were astounded to hear of the attack on Pearl Harbor and decided that they needed to do their part to support the war effort. Carl enlisted in the Navy (Sea Bees).
They were married in June 1 942 and, while waiting for Carl to be called to active duty, they spent the remainder of the summer on a remote fire lookout at a site which was accessible only by foot, horse, and pack mule. This experience gave Lenora a desire to never live again without running water and electricity or to rely on horses and mules as sole means of transportation. Shortly after Carl left for the Navy, Lenora enlisted in the US.
Coast Guard women’s auxiliary known as the Spars. She served as a recruitment, morale, and welfare officer at several locations in the Midwest during the war. Lenora and Carl moved to Corvallis following their service discharges in 1946.
There they completed their Bachelor’s degrees at Oregon State College (now University) under the GI Bill. Lenora majored in guidance and counseling while working part-time at the Registrar’s Office. She then worked for the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University for 30 years until her retirement in 1983.
Lenora helped Fish and Wildlife students with their curricula and professional development as well as to find summer jobs and permanent employment. This role gave her great satisfaction and many students kept in touch with her for decades. Lenora enjoyed gardening, sewing, cooking and entertaining, the arts, and travel.
Her daughters appreciated that she sewed most of their clothing throughout their school years. They are also thankful for the organizational, culinary, management, and proper grammar (at all times! ) skills with which she endowed them.
She supported their interests and activities, never missing their school concerts. As a loyal supporter of Oregon State athletics, Lenora continued to avidly watch OSU football, basketball, and baseball on television when she was no longer able to attend in person. She felt fortunate to travel to many countries in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.
Lenora accompanied Carl on sabbatical in Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan, as well as during his teaching stints in Chile. A special and significant moment of her travels was taking tea with Crown Prince (now Emperor) Akihito of Japan. She is preceded in death by her husband, Carl; her parents, and her younger brothers, Anthony Lee Jensen and Norman Frederick Jensen.
She is survived by her daughters, Nancy Bond Hemming and Judith Bond Gordon and their husbands, Jim Hemming and Joe Gordon, stepchildren Pamela Hemming Guevara and Paul Hemming and their families as well as a large and caring extended family. The family would like to thank the staff at Stoneybrook Assisted Living and Lumina Hospice & Palliative Care for their care and support. Donations in Lenora’s memory may be made to the OSU Foundation for the Carl and Lenora Bond Scholarship Endowment Fund (www.
osufoundation.org) or to Lumina Hospice (www. luminahospice.org). A celebration of life will be held at a later date.
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