Leota Irene “Lee” Jensen, 80, passed away quietly on Saturday, May 13, 2023, at the Sidney Health Center in Sidney, MT surrounded by her family.

Lee was born on May 26, 1942, to Francis Hammond and Perry Shannon in Iowa City, Iowa. She grew up on her grandparents farm in Columbus Junction, Iowa. After graduating high school, she lived and worked in Rock Island, Illinois, where she met and married Gale Vincent in 1966. To this union they had two daughters: Michelle and Melissa.

And then... she found her happily ever after, the first day of the rest of her life, when on July 7, 1984, she married her true love – her one and only, her person: Ronald James Jensen. Together they shared a love of 40 years. At last, she found her true north and she was HOME. She also welcomed her stepchildren Tony, Randy, and Holly.

Lee was a quiet, soft-spoken woman who could be quite sassy too. She walked through life with a big heart and always treated everyone she met with warmth and kindness. She enjoyed Sunday Mass at St. Matthews, crocheting, puzzle books, reading romance novels, playing cards, and Sunday Football (Go Packers!). Lee loved her fur-babies over the years and no matter how many times we heard “no more,” there were always more. She loved and cherished her family, afternoon drives with her beloved husband Ron, and frozen Coca-Colas. She recently shared, when asked what she missed most doing; “making and sharing lunch with Ron every day at noon and their card game nights with her much loved and missed in-laws, John and Margaret.

Lee was loved by her family very much, but she was truly blessed with a devoted, caring and loving husband, best friend, and in end, the most loving and dedicated caretaker who shared quietly as he whispered in her ear, “I love you very much and if I could... I would do it all over again.”

Lee is survived by her husband of 39 years, Ron Jensen; her sons, Tony (Dani) Jensen and Randy (Chantel) Jensen; daughters Nina Michelle Mayes, Melissa (James) Elmore, and Holly (Jeff) Moore; grandchildren Kassidee, Charles, Brooke, Ryan, Austin, Josh, John, Laura, Gage, Brynn, Jordan, Lexi, Brooke, Jakub, Carter, Nick, and Beans; great grandchildren Preston, Elsie, Willow, Taven, Lincoln, Jenessa, Presley, Charlotte, Reese, Aiden, Emma, and Alex; and her sweet cat, Sammy.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Francis Stanley and Perry Shannon; sister Janette Cliff; mother-in-law Margaret Witkowski; brothers-in-law Russ Trudell and Butch Jensen; and her fur-babies Bailey, Buddy, Arrow, and Kramer.