The Jensen family home is surrounded by nothing but acres of sweeping farmland, silent but for the sounds of birds, cattle and distant tractor motors.
Located outside this highlands farming community 15 miles east of Ogden, Utah, the home is off a back road and up a lane. The lower limbs of pines around the home are bared where hungry elk gnawed bark last winter.From this home, Elder Marlin K. Jensen, 46, has excelled as father, attorney, farmer, Church leader and civic volunteer. He was called to the First Quorum of the Seventy April 1.
Of medium build, Elder Jensen has salt and pepper hair, a ready and often self-deprecating wit, incisive insights and folksy wisdom that strikes a chord with many of his listeners.
For example, during a recent stake conference he encouraged leaders to spend more time ministering and less time in meetings: "Up where I come from, we say that it takes a mighty good meeting to be better than no meeting at all."
His wife, Kathy, is his equal in both wit and wisdom. The mother of eight children ranging in ages from 19 to two months and the wife of a busy attorney-farmer and Church leader, she was introduced to rural life only after marriage.
"I love it now," she said, "but I didn't at first. It took a while to adjust to the smells of the corral. Actually I still haven't adjusted to the smells of the corral."
The 600-head beef operation - the Jensen Family Middle Fork Ranch - is near the farm that was founded in 1864 by his great-great-grandfather, Christian M. Jensen, a Danish convert. The community has been home to a colony of Jensens for five generations since, and the extended family continues to associate on the same soil. "If you can't get along here on earth, there is no point in trying in heaven," Elder Jensen said.
And like farming, Church leadership has also run in the family. He and his father, Keith, and grandfather, Wilmer, have been bishops of the Huntsville Ward. And he and his father have been stake presidents. Elder Jensen presided over the Huntsville stake from 1978 to 1987.
He said that with all his responsibilities, it has been therapeutic to slip into overalls and keep up with the hard physical labor of the farm. "It's great to have a barn," he chuckled.
Young Marlin learned to farm early. "He was a very determined person from the beginning," said his mother, Lula. "He always rose early. I hated that with a passion when he was little, but I have appreciated it since." She added that he has also been very protective of his older brother, Gary, who is mentally retarded.
She said young Marlin began operating the hay rake at about age 6 or 7, when he was so short his legs barely stretched to the pedals. By the time he reached mission age he had a reputation with the local repair shop of being hard-driving with the equipment. As Elder Jensen left for his mission in Germany in 1961, the local repairman commented, "Now that Marlin is gone, I might starve to death with no machinery to repair."
When he returned from his mission, he supervised German instruction at the Language Training Mission at BYU, and wanted to become a professor of German. Later he decided that would mean giving up the farm, so he chose law instead.
On a blind date at BYU, he met Kathleen Bushnell of Clearfield, Utah, who was then attending Utah State University. They were later married. After he graduated from law school, they returned to the serenity of the family farm.
Sister Jensen soon found the serenity interrupted by a husband who awoke at 4:30 a.m. to milk 80 cows. He farmed evenings and weekends. Between the tractor and the milking shed, he dashed back and forth to Ogden to establish a law practice. About the same time, at age 28, he was called as bishop of the Huntsville Ward.
With characteristic modesty, Elder Jensen said the Huntsville Ward almost ran itself. "We had a lot of really great youths," he said. But it was a trying time for the young family as they struggled for balance between duty and family.
"Balancing life has been one of our challenges," he said. "I asked Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone about it and he said, `I don't know what the answer is, but don't let it canker your soul.'
"That turned out to be the answer," said Elder Jensen. "We still have the challenge, but we just put our heads down and keep working. We've had a veryfull life. My wife made it all come out all right."
Once, said Elder Jensen, he came home to their "Little House on the Prairie" to find his wife in tears. She had realized that there were no sidewalks on the farm - no place for the children to roller skate when they were older. But, she is quick to add, the farm has been good for the children, too. They learned to work, gathering eggs, feeding the calves, milking, sewing, baking and later, tilling the land.
Sister Jensen soon learned to deal with the farm odors and arduousness, the isolation from people, and the challenges of a family-operated farm.
As the family increased in size and age, so did the pace of life as youth activities and lessons in the city were added. A sign on the refrigerator expresses Sister Jensen's feelings: "If a woman's place is in the home, why am I always in the car?"
"I am really grateful that I could stay home," said Sister Jensen. "I realize that it is a luxury. I taught first grade for two years, then retired; I've been teaching first grade at home ever since."
Over the years the law practice also increased. Civic duties were added that included Scouting on the Lake Bonneville Council, serving on the Utah Liquor Commission, the State Fair Board, the Weber County Board of Education (of which he was president when called as a General Authority).
His legal work is mostly an office practice where he has specialized in helping farmers in estate planning. He preferred an office practice to a courtroom role because, "I couldn't take the contention of a courtroom and still come home and be a good husband."
Associates noted that he has found quiet ways to be of legal service to others. "When they (who are not well-to-do) ask how much payment they owe," explained his mother, "he tells them, `Just bring me a banana cream pie.' "
Occasionally when the Jensens are not home, people stop at his parents' home about a half mile away and leave banana cream pies there for him. "Then," said his mother, "We'd know he was doing lots of good things."
He served as bishop for five years, was called as stake president for nine years, then as regional representative. Always, said his associates, he went the extra mile doing the little extra things people appreciate.
Elder Jensen said that when he was called as a General Authority, "We were absolutely flabbergasted. The thing is, we feel like pretty ordinary people. . . . To sit at a table with President [Gordon B.] Hinckley and President [Thomas S.] Monson - We just couldn't believe I would be called.
"We just keep looking at ourselves and wonder why the call came," said his wife.
"My son, Ryan, 14, summarized it best," said Elder Jensen.
"He said, `You, Dad?' "
Others were less incredulous. After the announcement of his call, the Jensens' phone began ringing with congratulatory calls from members around the valley. Elder Jensen's parents were too emotionally choked up to speak when they were told.
Despite the lofty nature of the call, it brings challenges to the busy family. But this family is already adjusting, he said.
When their daughter Allison, 4, says her prayers at night, she prays, "Please bless Dad in his new job."
And their daughter Jennifer, 18, called from Utah State where she is a student and commented, "I guess we will have to be more spiritual."
But for Elder Jensen, the transition may not be so difficult.
"Any time I can trade the IRS tax code for a Book of Mormon, it is a fantastic blessing," he said. "We are thrilled about the prospect."
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(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)
Elder Marlin K. Jensen
- Born: May 18, 1942, in Ogden, Utah, to Keith G. and Lula Hill Jensen.
- Family: Married Kathleen Bushnell of Clearfield, Utah; parents of Matthew, 19, serving in Germany Hamburg Mission, Jennifer, 18, Julie, 16, Ryan, 14, Emily, 12, Kate, 8, Allison, 4, and Sarah Jane, two months.
- Career: Planning and estate attorney with Ogden law firm; partner in Jensen's Middle Fork Ranch; former partner in Jensen & Froerer of Ogden, Utah.
- Education: Bachelor's degree in German, BYU; juris doctorate from University of Utah Law School.
- Past Church callings: Regional representative, stake president, bishop, bishop's counselor.