Senior Craft Talk by Ernie Jensen

Ernie was born at St. Luke’s Hospital, in Pasadena, because at the time, Arcadia Methodist Hospital did not exist.  He attended Camino Grove Elementary, Dana Jr. High,  Arcadia High School and then went on to Cal Poly, Pomona.  He completed all of his masters classes for the MBA.

When he was 21 his father died and he took over his dad’s business.

He met Gail in High School and they married in 1972.  Eric, their oldest son was born with cerebral palsy and they cared for him at home, for 5 years, and then placed him in board and care.  He is now 31 years old.

Son Joel went to college at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and is currently employed by  Apple, Inc.,  in Cupertino, where he is a financial analyst for their retail stores, world wide.

Joel married Sarah, also a Cal Poly SLO graduate. She is a P.E. teacher in Cupertino and just earned her Master’s degree this past May.

Boy Scouts and other life experiences:

Ernie was always involved with scouting and became an Eagle Scout.  He was Cub Master of the Highland Oaks Pack, and Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop #103,(both sponsored by the Arcadia Rotary Club).  He was Scoutmaster of the Tournament of Roses Eagle Scout/Gold Award Girl Scout Troop that carry the banners for the Rose Parade.  He and Gail also took an Explorers Group to Mainland, China, and another trip to Tokyo, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Ernie is a very active person, and received his Private Pilots License on his 17th birthday and continued, obtaining his instrument and commercial pilot’s license. He likes to travel,  snow and water ski, play tennis, and lately has added shooting (with his son) and golfing.

Organizations

His life has been embraced by the gift of organization and getting things done.  He and Gail were advisors for the Youth Group at Church of the Good Shepard for 10 years.  Ernie was also on the Arcadia Educational Foundation Board and also served on theFoundation Board at Arcadia Methodist Hospital from 1992-2000 being chairman in 1999.

Ernie joined Rotary in 1982 when he was 32 years old.  He and Tom Miles joined at the same time and were in Ice Breakers for seven years.  This was only because they were having so much fun.  The club finally required that he become a Blue badge member after he had already been on and off of the Arcadia Rotary Board of Directors for 2 years.  Frank Perini and Jim Kuhn were his sponsors.

After being Club President in 1990-91 he was nominated by the Arcadia Rotary for District Governor.  He was not elected the first time around, due mainly to the time needed to spend as District Governor.  The next year he was surprisingly interviewed (as the interviewer forgot to tell him that he was going to be interviewed the next day.)  He passed the interview and Ernie became District Governor in 1996-1997.

Gail and Ernie have sponsored many Rotary exchange students including students form Russia, Japan, Paraguay, France, and Brazil.

Sprinkler Business  “E.E. Jensen Sprinklers” since 1947

With his taking over his dad’s business, way back in his youth, he extended his talents to include purchasing real estate and becoming a developer and general contractor.  Today some people say that he is be  more involved in Real Estate Management with a side job of sprinklers, although Landscaping and Sprinklers is his base for business. He says that he is the best in the San Gabriel Valley for installing and repairing Irrigation Sprinklers with the over 63 year old company.  Recently his holdings extended to Hawaii where he and Gail have a beautiful condo just under Diamond Head,  on the Waikiki Beach.  They rent this property out and of course they go to Hawaii whenever it is not rented.