Sharon Jensen

Sharon Jensen has been our angel on Earth for nearly 81 years. On April 8, 2025, she left this world to become an unwavering guardian angel for the many loved ones she’s left behind.

Born Betty Sharon Hodges on June 12, 1944, to John “Jack” Hodges and Nora Fain Hodges, she went by the names Sherry and Sharon. She attended Stoughton public schools through 11th grade and graduated high school in Edgerton following her family’s move.

When her talent for shorthand helped her succeed as assistant to the top executive at Stoughton Trailers, she met and married a man at work who caught her eye, Dean Jensen. They welcomed two daughters, Sharilyn in 1967 and Jill 16 months later. Sharon was a powerful mama bear whose devotion to her girls knew no limits. Her watchful eye extended to her parents, brothers, niece Danica and beyond. She witnessed the birth of her two granddaughters and was the first to extend a pointer finger that the newborn babies gripped. She was a big part of her granddaughters’ lives and loved to read books to them and take walks to spy on fairy homes hidden in knotty old trees.

Sharon believed animals were as important as people. Her adult life was filled with animals – her own pet dogs and cats, and her friends’ dogs that she would dog sit. Her family nicknamed her Snow White when wild squirrels, chipmunks, birds, raccoons and opossums visited her patio for birdseed and peanuts. And about her artwork: Beginning at age 70, Sharon elevated her lifelong habit of doodling. She started doodling on small squares of art paper while listening to audiobooks in coffeeshops. She would transform a tiny nucleus doodle into a grand, spellbinding, flowerlike thing. Her family cherishes her collection of almost a thousand drawings, each unique and a testament to the otherworldly place her mind traveled that day. When she posted her favorites on Instagram, she loved to see her friends respond with awe and pleas for more.

Sharon is survived by daughters Shari Jensen (Joe Lathrop) and Jill Stone (Todd); granddaughters Halle Andersen and Sutton Andersen; friend and former husband, Dean Jensen; brothers John Hodges, Michael Nolan Hodges, and Steven Hodges (Breezy); cousins, nieces and nephews; and special friend Penny Vodak as well as many other friends. Sharon was preceded in death by her parents, brother Jim Hodges, and niece Danica Mumbler.

When Mom contemplated her death, she said, “It had better be interesting.”