Dennis Jensen

1945 - 2025

Dennis Jensen

1945 - 2025

- Dennis Dwight Jensen

6/14/1945 – 9/29/2025

Dennis was born into a large loving family, with many brothers and sisters, throughout his life he grew up in Washington, Idaho and settled in Utah.

He met his first wife Diana, they had two children, Louie and Big Denny, they later divorced and then he met and married June, with whom he had two more children, Denise and Little Denny. They later divorced.

He met and fell in love with Sheryl Baxter, she became the love of his life. They married in 1986 and together they raised her daughter Tiffany. He treated her as his own. He would say family isn't always blood. He even took some of his kids on his honeymoon to Hawaii with him and his wife.

Throughout his life he enjoyed many activities such as fishing, bowling, bingo, camping , racing and baseball. When Big Denny and Louie were little he would take them fishing. One of those times Louie didn't reel the fish in and drug it behind the boat. Dennis would smile, if you knew him, it's that smile that he loved to show off. Another activity he enjoyed was owning multiple businesses. One of which was a bike store. He would spend time with Denise and Little Denny at the track racing BMX bikes, always cheering them on.

When Tiffany was growing up she played softball. He would help coach her games, trying not to show favoritism to her on the field.

Being a father was a proud time for him, and he would brag about his enjoyment of watching his children doing what they loved.

Dennis served in the US Air Force; he also became a fireman with Murray City. He loved this career; he would go from being a firefighter, putting fires out all over town to saving lives as an EMT. He unfortunately had a roof fall on him while fighting a fire and it would cause an injury that would force him to retire. This was a hard decision. He then decided to shoot for the sky. He started working at SkyWest Airlines for many years as a parts specialist.

Dennis has done a multitude of things. He was a handyman, and would fix anything and everything. He loved helping people; he would go out of his way even if it meant giving them the shirt off his back. Never expecting anything in return.

Dennis never met a stranger; he treated everyone like he had known them forever.

Dennis retired once again and chose to spend his time at the ball diamonds with his wife and grandsons, Riley and Jarrett. He loved spending time with them. He would prep the fields, umpire, work the snack shack and run errands for West Bountiful baseball little league. He loved staying busy. He would find things to do, and he didn't like to sit around. He would even play cars and build train tracks on the floor with his great grandsons Ledger, Lincoln, and Levi, smiling the whole time.

Dennis started working part time as a produce man and helped in the toy department (I think that was an excuse to play with the toys) at Smiths Marketplace in Bountiful. This is where he started showing some forgetful signs, shortly after he was diagnosed with Front Temporal Lobe Dementia. He went from talking your ear off to one-word responses. He would still smile the biggest smile and when asked how he was doing, he would say "Fantastic".

I could go on and on what a wonderful man he was, and anyone that knew him, knew this. He has left a forever mark on all of us. We were able to celebrate his 80 years in June. He was a man of integrity, generosity, kindness and most importantly, love.

Dennis is survived by his wife of 39 years, Sheryl Baxter Jensen his five children Louie (Louise) Jensen, Dennis "Big Denny", Denise (Joe) McDonald, Denny Jensen-Karrick, Tiffany (Tony) Herron, 16 grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren with 2 more on the way.

Surviving siblings and spouses: John (Carol) Jensen, Carolyn Jensen, Sally (Ed) Griswold, MaryAnne (Pedro) Gomez, Richard Martinez, Teresa Jensen and Ron Carpenter. Brother in law Bill Baxter. Multiple nieces and nephews.

Dennis was preceded in death by his parents John Jensen Sr. Helen Wessman Jensen Martinez, step father Mariano Martinez, brother Rod Jensen, Pete and Renee Jensen, Marion Martinez Jr., Steven Jensen, sister Linda Carpenter, father and mother in law Willard Baxter and Barbara Baxter, sister in law, Vickie Lund, daughter in law Cindy Jensen, nephew Peter Jensen Jr.

The family wishes to thank Utah Home Health and Hospice for their kindness and loving care of Dennis and the Murray City Fire department and US Air Force.

Viewing on Sunday, October 12, 2025 from 5:00 - 7:00 PM at Jenkins-Soffe Mortuary, 4760 S. State Street, Murray. Service for Dennis will be held on Monday, October 13, 2025 at 11:00 AM at Jenkins-Soffe. Interment at Elysian Burial Gardens, 1075 E. 4580 S., Millcreek, Utah.

Personal Tribute Award: This was an award for saving 8 month old (Jeremy Shane) who fell into Murray creek. The amazing part of this is Dennis didn't know how to or want to swim. But he jumped in feet first. Always putting others first, willing to help wherever and whenever, never without a smile.

Let's all be like him; "Fantastic"