Kathryn Jenkins

Kathryn Tunseth Jenkins

Kathryn (Kitty) Jenkins passed away on Saturday, April 15, 2023 in Burbank, CA. She was 90 years old. Kitty was born on January 22, 1933 to Esther (Thorpe) Tunseth and Peder Tunseth on a farm near Mayville, ND. Kitty was the ninth of eleven children. She attended Rural Country Norway #2 School.

The Tunseth family moved to Mayville, ND in the spring of 1941. Kitty continued her education at Mayville in elementary, junior and senior high schools. She graduated from Mayville H.S. in 1951 and from Mayville State Teachers College in 1953. She continued her education at Moorehead State University, Moorehead, MN, and Long Beach State University, Long Beach, CA. She taught school at La Moure, ND for one year and at Fargo public schools for two years prior to relocating to Long beach, CA where she taught school also.

Kitty was married in 1958 at Long Beach, CA to Frank Jenkins. They had two children, David and Susan. The family moved to Hollywood, CA in 1961. After Kitty and Frank divorced in 1970, Kitty and the children remained in Hollywood until the summer of 1977. Then they moved to the San Fernando Valley communities of Sepulveda (now North Hills), Studio City, North Hollywood, and the city of Burbank, CA. The entire family has lived in Burbank for the past 30+ years.

Kitty was an active parent and participant in school functions. She was President of Le Conte Jr. High School's Parent, Teacher, and Student Association. She sewed the bolero/vest uniforms for the entire 6th grade orchestra at Grant Elementary School, within which her daughter played the clarinet.

Kitty was employed for several years by the Los Angeles Unified School District as manager & director of operations at the Animal Studies/Biological Sciences Magnet High School located in Griffith Park, near the Los Angeles Zoo.

Kitty retired in 2003 at the age of 70 1/2. She spent some of her summer vacations doing extra movie work, which she didn't really consider as work but just an interesting and fun hobby for which she was paid a salary at the end of each day. Some of the well-known actors she worked with during that era were: Michael Landon, Sally Struthers, John Ritter, Jack Palance, Rory Calhoun, Shelly Long, and others.

Kitty was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters: Olive (Manny) Grindeland, Linda (Robert) Shuck, Jane (Richard) De Marais, Arlene (Don) Olsen, Esther (Richard) Slaughter, and her brothers: Paul Tunseth, Lester Tunseth, Orville Tunseth, and Milton Tunseth.

Kitty is survived by her children, David and Susan Jenkins of Burbank, CA and grandson James Patrick Soriano Lovato of Sylmar, CA. She is also survived by sister: Clara (Leo) Evanson of Portland, ND. Many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews survive her. Kitty will be interred in the beautiful Glen Haven Memorial Park in Sylmar, CA next to the beginning of Angeles National Forest.

This was also published in the Saturday, April 29, 2023 editions of the Fargo-Moorehead Forum, Grand Forks Herald, and Traill County Tribune.