John Robert Jensen “Deaf John”

By By

WELLINGTON-After a lengthy illness, John Robert “Deaf John” Jensen, a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, son, brother, uncle and friend, passed from this life surrounded by his loving family at the Veteran’s Hospital in Salt Lake City on June 10, 2010.
John was born July 17, 1941 in Spring Glen, Utah to Oliver “Tooter” and Mary Ann Riley Jensen. He married the love of his life, Dianne Gaillard, on May 29, 1968.
A longtime resident of Carbon County, John played baseball as a youth for the Spring Glen “Mudhens”. He graduated from Carbon High in 1959, and served in the U.S. Army in West Germany during the Vietnam War. John worked as an auto mechanic for many of the auto dealerships in Price and helped many people with their cars, often at his own expense. He also taught auto mechanics at the College of Eastern Utah in his later years where he took many students under his wing.
John is an award winning poet. Many of his poems can be found around Carbon County, with several being published by the Library of Congress. He was also a John Deere enthusiast and enjoyed driving his beloved tractor and collecting John Deere memorabilia.
John is survived by his loving wife of 42 years, Dianne; sons, Michael Jon of Salt Lake, Kevin Lee (Terri) of Magna, and Phillip Jay “PJ” (Shawna) of Helper; granddaughter, Tawna Mary Jensen Yazzie of Salt Lake; great-grandsons, Hunter Michael and Braxton Billy of Salt Lake (to whom he was “Grandpa Mucklehead”); his mother, Mary Jensen of Helper; siblings, June (Cliff) Pessetto of Helper, Richard (Carol) of Albuquerque, N.M., Helen (Allen) Runolfson of American Fork, and Jim (Janet) of Bel Air, Md.; many loving nieces and nephews; and many friends.
John was preceded in death by his father; his mother-in-law and father-in-law; and twin sons Brent R. and Kent J. Jensen.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 18, at Mitchell Funeral Home in Price. The family will be at Mitchell’s one hour prior to the service on Friday. Friends and family are invited to sign the online guestbook at www.mitchellfuneralhome.net.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent in John’s name to the Homeless Veterans Fellowship, PO Box 1706, Ogden, Utah 84402; or go to www.homelessveterans.org.