Anne Hislop Jensen's Obituary
The Reverend Anne Hislop Jensen (1945-2023)
The Reverend Anne Jensen was a loving wife, daughter, mother, grandmother, a well-loved spiritual director, priest and pastor, and a passionate advocate for women and children. She passed away on May 17th of a traumatic brain injury.
Anne was born in Fort Sill, OK. She grew up in Yakima, WA where she graduated, Salutatorian from Eisenhower High School. She attended Stanford University, earning a BA in Art History in 1967 and an MA in Education in 1968. After graduation, Anne and Doug Jensen married, and she worked as an admissions officer at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA, while he served in the US Navy. After the birth of her first child, she chose to stay home with her children and was an active volunteer in her faith communities, The League of Women Voters, and in her children’s schools in Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX, and Minneapolis, MN.
In 1981, Anne became the Director of Christian Education at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Minneapolis, MN. It was during her tenure there that she answered the call to serve the church as an ordained priest and began her journey towards ordination. She graduated from Yale Divinity School in New Haven, CT with a Masters of Divinity in 1988 and was ordained an Episcopal Priest in 1989, joining a small cadre of women-of-the-cloth breaking through the stained-glass ceiling. She was called to parish ministry, serving as Associate Rector and Interim Priest in several congregations in Connecticut over the next 16 years. Additionally, while serving as the Associate Rector at St. John’s in Bridgeport, CT, she founded the St. John’s Family Center and served as Spiritual Director and Coordinator of the Annand Program for Spiritual Formation at Yale Divinity School.
Anne moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2005 to be closer to family. There she served in the Diocese of California as Interim Priest for several churches, a Spiritual Director, and as an Advisor to the Episcopal Service Corps, Berkeley. After her retirement in 2014, she continued to serve and volunteer as an assisting priest at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, continued providing spiritual direction, served on the Board of The Episcopal Impact Fund and volunteered with The Writer Coach Program.
Anne was a lifelong learner and an avid reader. She loved to travel and spend time in the garden. She loved cooking, visiting museums, attending the symphony and theater, and more than anything, she loved spending time with her family.
Anne is survived by her husband Douglas; her mother Virginia Hislop of Yakima, WA; daughters Elizabeth Jensen of Alameda (Kevin Butt Jensen), and Christina Litter (Joshua Litter) of Los Angeles; son, Michael Jensen (Emma Star Jensen) of Oakland; nephew, W. Scott Hislop of Liberty Lake, WA; seven grandchildren and a great niece and nephew. She was preceded in death by her father George Hislop and her brother William Hislop.
A Celebration of Life will be held Thursday, July 6th at 4:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Avenue Oakland, CA. In lieu of flowers memorials may be sent to the Episcopal Impact Fund at 1055 Taylor Street, San Francisco, CA 94108 or by clicking here:
https://www.episcopalimpact.org/donate-now
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