Charles 'Butch' Jensen 1943 - 2016

Charles “Butch” Jensen died peacefully in Sacramento on May 14, 2016 of cancer. He was 73 years old.

Butch was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1943. He moved to New Jersey in 1946 and was raised in Westfield graduating high school in 1961 and Wilmington College in Ohio in 1965. He qualified for Officer Training School and, rather than being drafted, enlisted in the Air Force in 1966. Encouraged to go to navigator training in Sacramento, he wound up with assignments all over the world. He flew 202 combat missions over northern Laos and North Vietnam during the war. After his assignments in the war zone, Butch served consecutive tours in Turkey and Spain before being assigned to George Air Force Base in Southern California.

After leaving the military in 1977, Butch sold insurance. Not his favorite gig. He moved north in 1980 to “get away from the high desert where all there was to do really was sit in bars and drink.” He soon realized that people in the Sacramento area wanted to go to the casinos in Lake Tahoe, and moreover, they wanted to go on tours with him because he had learned, as a wing commander, that being on time meant being 10 minutes early. His customers always knew they would be home in time to watch Jeopardy. The only time he ever left a casino past deadline was when a customer was waiting to get paid out for a jackpot. Butch then went to work as a blackjack dealer in South Lake Tahoe for 15 years.

Upon retirement, Butch traveled the world. In 2006 he walked the Camino de Santiago – an ancient pilgrim path stretching westward to the city of Santiago de Compostela where the bones of the apostle St. James are said to be buried. Hundreds of thousands of people have attempted the arduous trek – each one a seeker of something. That year he also visited London, Paris, and rode the Orient Express. 2008 took Butch to China and Turkey. 2010 found him in New Zealand for two months on a housing exchange.

During his time in Tahoe, Butch hiked every hikeable trail and peak. He rode around Lake Tahoe on his bike at age 70 and scaled Mount Tallac at 71. He kayaked Lake Tahoe early mornings frequently and loved the outdoor life thoroughly. He enjoyed immensely the beauty and abundance of nature and continued his treks when he moved to Sacramento two years ago to be closer to his daughter and granddaughter. He loved his family deeply and often traveled to Massachusetts to be with his daughter and grandchildren there.

Always politically active and aware, Butch voted in every election but one since he was eligible, including orchestrating an absentee ballot on the Camino that cost him $32 to return. His last vote was in the June 7 California Primary Election.

Butch is survived by scores of loving friends, and his family: daughter, Mary Murdoch and her husband Malcolm and their children Caroline, Matt and Katie; daughter Kristen Jensen and her daughter Jordan; sister Mary “Plum” Moore; and his nieces and nephew Ellen Jensen, Anne Dean, and Brian Jensen. A celebration of life will be held in South Lake Tahoe on June 28, 2016. For details, contact Kristen Jensen at kristen.jensen1@gmail.com