Percy Clifford Jensen
Born 20 Feb 1891 in Mt. Pleasant, Utah and Died 14
Feb 1981 in Gunnison, Utah
Percy “Perc” or “PC” Clifford Jensen was the
second son of Hans Peter Jensen (1858 – 1937)and
Hilda (Jensen) Jensen (maiden name was the same as her married name - 1862 – 1954). Perc was born 20 February 1891 in Mt.
Pleasant, Utah.
Perc had one brother, Alvin
Peter Jensen (1884 – 1940) and five sisters, Aldeva Hilda Jensen (1886 – 1957);
Hazel Theora (Jensen) Anderson Lundberg (1889 – 1985); Chrystal Anna “Annie”
Jensen Phillips (1892 – 1974); Alta Lavon Jensen Turner (1894 - 1977); and Nora
Jensen Newton (1897 – 1992).
Perc completed high school and grew to
manhood in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. At the age of 19 years, he was listed as living
with his parents in Mt. Pleasant, Utah in the 1910 Census.
Perc went to Salt Lake City, Utah to work as
a bookkeeper/cashier for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RG).
He is listed as a lodger in the William Smith establishment in Salt Lake City
in the 1920 Census at the age of 28 years. Pictured below is the Denver and Rio
Grande Western Ticket Office in Salt Lake City, Utah 1922 or 1923 from the Utah State Historical Society.
Below is an interior photo of the Salt Lake City, Utah Denver and Rio Grande Western Ticket Office in 1940. It may not have looked like this when Percy Jensen worked.
Here is a photo of Perc in 1917. Perc was
very tall, slender, and had brown eyes. He had a easy smile!
Prior to 1917, Perc served in the Utah
National Guard out of Mt. Pleasant, Utah for three years. He entered as a
Private 3rd Class and was promoted to Private 2nd Class
and finally, Private 1st Class.
Perc registered for the World War I Draft on
5 June 1917 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Perc served in World War I aboard the USS
Martha Washington Troop Transport Ship (shown here as it was inbound to Hampton
Roads, Virginia, from Brest, France in1918). Perc’s World War I military
service record reveals that he was inducted in to the Navy on 23 November 1917.
He was discharged from service on 17 November 1919.
Perc’s Navy training
occurred at Brewerton, Washington and Norfolk, Virgina.
After WWI, Perc managed the D&R G Café
and Drug Store in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition, he managed the bowling
alley at the Ambassador Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was believed that Perc never married. However, a marriage record does exist for a Percy Clifford Jensen in1929 to Ivy Maye Frazier in Davis, Utah.
Perc was an avid bowler,
winning many competitions. Perc was inducted in the Hall of Fame in the Utah
State USBC Bowling Association in 2011 (some 30 years after his death) for
Superior Service.
P. C. Was the bookkeeper
for the D&RG Railroad for over 30 Years. He was the manager of the
Ambassador Club where he had bowled. P. C. started bowling at the age of 9 and
he continued to bowl until the age of 89. In 1979 P. C. was inducted as a
charter member of the Salt Lake Men’s Bowling Association Hall of Fame, he was
also the first bowler inducted into the Utah sports Hall of Fame. From 1938
through 1941 P. C. was President of the Utah State Men’s Bowling Association
and Past President from 1942 through 1945. P. C. Served as president of the
Salt City Men’s Bowling Association From 1939 to 1942.
State of
Utah Accomplishments:
• 1930 Team Champion
• 1931 Team Champion
• 1932 Team Champion
• 1933 Team Champion
• 1934 Team Champion
• 1935 Team Champion
• 1931 Doubles Champion
• 1939 Doubles Champion
• 1931 All Events Champion
• 1939 All Events Champion
• 2011 Inducted into the
Utah State Men’s Bowling Association
Hall of Fame
Salt Lake
City Bowling Association Accomplishments:
• 1955 Team Champion
• 1979 Inducted as a
Charter Member of the Salt Lake Men’s Bowling
Association Hall of Fame
Perc also served as
President of the Salt Lake City Bowling Association and President of the Utah
Bowling Association. He was the Captain
of the Western Optical Bowling Team for 26 years. A number of articles were published
regarding Perc’s bowling accomplishments.
Perc traveled the country,
driving his own car. His trunk always had a bowling ball and golf clubs in it.
I remember my Great-Uncle Perc well. He frequently stopped at our house (Judy Malkiewicz, granddaughter to Percy's birth sister, Hazel Theora (Jensen) Anderson Lundberg when
out on his travels.
Perc spent his last days with his sister,
Nora Jensen Newton and her husband, Leon, in Salina, Utah. He died at the age
of 90 years at the Gunnison Valley Hospital in Gunnison, Utah on 14 February
1981. Perc was buried at the Mt. Pleasant City Cemetery in Mt. Pleasant, Utah
in plot A_18_2_4.
