Jens Bardon Jenson

PFC in 603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : HQ & Service Co

Military occupational specialty: 50 (carpenter, general)

ASN#33224615

Born 1916 in VA, Died 1991

Artist

County of enlistment: Richmond, VA

Other residence(s): Norge (James City County), VA; Richmond, VA; Gettysburg, VA; Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia; Fargo, ND; Ross, MN; Regent, ND; Hines, OR; Prairie City, SD; Hettinger, ND; Fort Benton, MT; Williamsburg, VA

United States Army, European Theatre of Operations

Occupation before the war: artists, sculptors, and teachers of art

College education before the war: Philadelphia art school and William and Mary Extension Division (aka Richmond Professional Institute) 4 years

College education after the war: William and Mary Extension Division (aka Richmond Professional Institute); United Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg

Source: Photo of Headquarters Company at Montcuit, in Nussenbaum scrapbook; Unit Shipment 10143-B, 23d HQ, from le Havre 23 June 1945; Bahnhof flag signature; militaryyearbookproject.org/references/old-mos-codes/wwii-era/army...

Jens (known as Bardon) Jenson was born on March 4, 1916 in Norge, VA, the oldest of three children. His father and grandfather had come to Norge from Wisconsin in 1904 and helped to establish the community, along with other northern farmers of Norwegian ancestry (and a few Danes and Swedes). Bardon's father worked as a farmer and a rural mail carrier; he was also a charter member of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Norge, and served for 20 years as its Sunday School superintendent and 30 years as its choir director.

Bardon graduated from nearby Toana High School and went on to study art at a Philadelphia art school. When he registered for the draft, on October 16, 1940, he was working at Casey's, a department store in Williamsburg, and taking art classes part time at William & Mary.

Bardon married Caroline Victoria "Vicky" Rolfsen on April 16, 1942; she was the daughter of the pastor of Our Saviour's in Norge. They settled in Richmond, VA where he continued his art studies at the William & Mary Extension Division there.

By the time he enlisted, on September 8, 1942, he had completed four years of art school (although he did not receive his degree until after the war). Like other artists and art students, he was assigned to the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion. He went to Europe with the unit, and was discharged with the rank of PFC on October 26, 1945.

After returning home he went back to school and in 1947 received his undergraduate fine arts degree from William & Mary College Extension (also known as Richmond Professional Institute, and later to become part of Virginia Commonwealth University). Immediately thereupon he opted for a career change and enrolled at Lutheran Theological Seminary (now United Lutheran Seminary) in Gettysburg, VA. He and Vicky settled in Gettysburg with their two young sons: James and Paul, and Bardon set about preparing for the ministry.

During his seven years in Gettysburg, he worked as a student pastor at a Lutheran church in nearby Arendtsville, taught at a Gettysburg Bible School, and sang in his father's choir on visits back home.

Bardon Jenson (left) with his brother, Neale Jenson, 1986, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Dallas, TX; photo courtesy Shirley Harrison, Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Norge, VA

After earning his divinity degree in 1954, Bardon was ordained by the Nova Scotia synod, and took his first assignment at a church in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. The Jenson's third child, Willis, was born there. In subsequent years, the family moved regularly every three years or so, taking on parish assignments all along the northernmost part of the US—in Fargo, ND; Ross, MN (where their fourth child, Barton, was born); Regent, ND; and Hines, OR. In 1969 they settled in Prairie City, SD for a seven-year stretch.

By 1978, Bardon was in semi-retirement in North Dakota, working part-time and also becoming renowned for his pieces of religious sculpture. He had started sculpting with religious themes after graduating from the seminary (in fact, his first piece in the new series was donated to the United Lutheran Seminary library in Gettysburg in 1954). In a 1980 newspaper article, he said that he wanted to "do something visual to assist people in sharing the faith."

In 1981, Bardon was installed as pastor of a Lutheran church in Fort Benton, MT; this appears to have been his final posting since, by the time his father died in 1987, he had returned to Norge, VA.

Bardon died on May 22, 1991 and is buried at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church Cemetery in Norge. Vicky died in Kansas in 2009, and is buried with her husband in Norge.

NOTE: Bardon's younger brother Neale also attended William & Mary, served in World War II (in the Air Force), graduated from the United Lutheran Cemetery, and became a minister, serving churches at the opposite end of the country from Bardon's—mostly in the west and southwest. Two of Bardon's sons (James and Willis) also became ministers; both were officiants at his funeral.

Sources

1916 Virginia birth record
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/91949:9277?ssrc=pt&tid=16830033&pid=432193585276

1920 census
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/101009495:6061?ssrc=pt&tid=74445343&pid=412116993633

1930 census
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/98026697:6224?ssrc=pt&tid=74445343&pid=412116993633

1940 census
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/17156951:2442?ssrc=pt&tid=74445343&pid=412116993633

1940 draft card
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/10711077:2238?tid=&pid=&queryId=81da869f-0caf-472a-a238-6409017196d4&_phsrc=zzC10&_phstart=successSource

1942 Virginia marriage record
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/11346625:9279?tid=&pid=&queryId=fefb60ed-5fa5-41bc-ad26-72ed2fc8bf64&_phsrc=iaq7&_phstart=successSource

1942 marriage announcement in the Daily Press (Newport News, VA)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/230884221/?match=1&terms=jens%20b%20jenson

1942 enlistment record
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/6329226:8939?tid=&pid=&queryId=00a2fb8b-fe21-499e-821c-b5198140f00c&_phsrc=iaq1&_phstart=successSource

1947 article in the Daily Press (Newport News, VA) about his art and ministerial studies
https://www.newspapers.com/image/230884500/?match=1&terms=j%20bardon%20jenson

1950 article in the Daily Press (Newport News, VA); he is singing in choir
https://www.newspapers.com/image/231246430/?match=1&terms=j%20bardon%20jenson

1951 article in the Gettysburg Times (VA); he is working as a student pastor at a nearby Lutheran church
https://www.newspapers.com/image/38308895/?match=1&terms=bardon%20jenson

1954 article in the Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, VA) about his completing his ministerial studies and getting his Nova Scotia assignment