Jens J FOSSUM, Jr

Abt 1925 - Abt 2020  (95 years)

• Name	Jens J FOSSUM
  Suffix	Jr
  Birth	Abt 1925
  Gender	Male
  Death	Abt 2020
  Notes	He and June attended Lorraine’s memorial service on July 24, 2017. Memorial benches provide places of relaxation at Frederic Parks [one of three articles on the couples honored] Jens Fossum was born in Frederic in 1925, the third son of Norwegian immigrants who had come to Frederic around 1910. He attended school in Frederic and two weeks after graduating in 1943 was drafted into the U.S. Navy. After training at the Farragut Naval Training Station in Idaho he was sent to the Pacific aboard a hospital ship, the USS Bountiful, serving as a corpsman in the operating room aboard ship. He was involved in the Battle of Iwo Jima along with other notable Pacific engagements. While on leave he visited the home of his good friend and fellow sailor from Amery, Glen Ausen. It was there that he first met Glen’s sister June, who would eventually become the love of his life. Lillian “June” Fossum was born on the family farm in the town of Alden near Wagon Landing, Wisconsin, in 1926. Six years later the family moved to Amery, where June lived until she graduated from high school in 1944. She left Amery to attend UW-Madison, earning a degree in English in 1948. While in college she met a sailor named Jens Fossum, and they married a month after her graduation. The couple moved to Jens’ hometown of Frederic, building their home on Birch Street where they resided until moving to Osceola in 2016. June spent the first few years of her teaching career at Centuria, teaching high school English. She later took a job at Frederic, where she also taught speech and family living. While at Frederic she took a record number of students to state in forensics. She also served as adviser to the student newspaper and the cheerleading squad. She retired from teaching in 1988, always regretting that she had not continued to work longer at the job she really loved. Upon his discharge from the service, Jens attended UW-River Falls to study biology for a year. He returned to Frederic to help his father, Jens Sr., in business after his uncle, who was his dad’s business partner, passed away. He went on to become a partner in his father’s cabinet and millwork shop, which was renamed Fossum and Son. Jens later added ceramic tilework to his business and continued installing tile even after selling the cabinet shop in the late ‘70s. June was a voracious reader and loved playing cards, especially bridge. She was also an avid walker and a skilled dance partner to her equally smooth husband. She was an active member of the Frederic Lioness Club and Pilgrim Lutheran Church, where she served as secretary to the ladies aid for over 30 years. She also traveled extensively during her lifetime, was a classy dresser and a fantastic cook. But above all she was a wonderful wife and mother who was loved and appreciated more than she ever knew. Jens was a wonderful father to the couple’s three children, Bruce, Brian and Karen. Whether he was teaching them to hike, fish, hunt, canoe or explore, he was consistently instilling a love of nature and the great outdoors in them. He also taught his kids the meaning of life and how to be kind, decent, respectful citizens through his example. Equally important, by making things fun in life, he taught those around him to not take themselves too seriously. Jens was a jokester like no other. He really loved children, as any kid who spent time with him and all his tricks would know. Jens was a man of many talents and interests. His passions were hunting, fishing, canoeing, traveling, painting, woodworking, agate picking/polishing and socializing. However, he especially cherished big-band music and dancing with his “princess” June and was most content just sitting on the deck of his cabin watching the river flow by. Throughout his 90 years of living in Frederic, Jens accomplished many things. He studied to become an EMT and was instrumental in getting an ambulance service started in Frederic in the early ‘70s. He served many years on the village board and was on Pilgrim Lutheran Church’s council. Jens served as treasurer of the Indianhead Bow Hunters’ Club in Lewis for many years. He really enjoyed being scoutmaster to his sons’ Boy Scout Troop 128, teaching canoeing and wilderness skills. And he was the best Santa Claus to friends and family for many years. The Fossum Memorial Bench is located at East Coon Lake Park, where June often walked and Jens fished at the dock. [From the September 30, 2020 Inter-County Leader]
  Person ID	I17662	Don Carlson's Tree
  Last Modified	24 Jul 2025

  
  

  Family	Lillian June AUSEN,   b. 13 Jun 1926, Wisconsin d. 22 Jan 2019, Osceola, Polk County, Wisconsin (Age 92 years)
  Family ID	F472	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	28 Dec 2010