Kelly Shephard Jensen

              Kelly Shephard Jensen was suddenly taken from this earth on October 19, 2023. He was born on April 13, 1966 and was adopted into the Jensen family in 1972. Kelly had a sweet and kind spirit who touched the lives of many people. It seems as though everyone on his street knew him and had talked to him at one time or another. He took it upon himself to take care of certain things for people who crossed his path, like bringing in people’s garbage cans if they were still on the street when he came by, moving packages from front doors to back doors if they hadn’t been taken in yet, and picking up all the trash at the bus stations that he frequented. The community will notice and sorely miss him almost as much as his family.

               Kelly loved heat and warmth. As a child, he would lay on the burning sidewalk in front of the house all summer. His mom tried to get sunscreen on him before he burned too much, but he didn’t like it much. He always preferred to sit in the hot tub rather than the pool. Kelly was a collector of things he found. If you lost something and he found it, he would carefully store it with his treasures. He also loved to travel, especially on cruises, but he only wanted to go to places one time. If you were going somewhere he had already been, he was totally okay not to go.

               Kelly was in a bowling league with his brother, Eric. They bowled every week during the season for 25 years. He was a pretty good bowler with an average as high as 135 and a high score of 212. He enjoyed getting high fives and congratulations from league members when he bowled a strike or picked up a tricky spare. He loved spending time with his brother and he loved his family. His siblings all received calls on their birthdays from Kelly most years. He liked knowing schedules and plans and once you told him the plan, he would remind you about it repeatedly. You would not forget things with Kelly around!

               If you wanted to know what time the streetlights came on or what time TV shows started, he could tell you. His ability to keep a schedule without fail made Kelly a reliable and dedicated employee. After graduating from Brighton High School in 1984, his first job was with Deseret Industries. There he discovered he loved having a job to earn his own spending money. His parents helped him budget his money before he spent it all, though. Later, he worked at American Covers for many years before the company moved to California. He was working a couple of days a week at City Cakes at the time of his passing.

               Kelly loved to snack! Some of his favorites included Doritos (Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch), Flaming Hot Cheetos, Peanut M&Ms, and roasted peanuts. When he was younger, he was always skinny even though he snacked as much as he could. Eventually, slower metabolism caught up with him, but that happens to all of us! He was a kind, considerate person and he will be dearly missed!

               Kelly was preceded in death by his father, Neldon Jensen, his niece, Taylor Olivia Anderson, and both sets of grandparents. He is survived by his mother, Jo Ann, his siblings, Richard (Lisa), Karen (Chip), Elaine, Donelle (Brett), Eric (Mollie), Carol (Bart), Ann (Corey), and numerous nieces and nephews.

               Funeral services will be held on Friday, November 3, 2023 at Hillside Ward building 7075 S 2245 E Cottonwood Heights, UT at 11:00am. There will be a viewing held on Thursday (November 2^nd) evening 6:00-8:00pm and on Friday morning 10:00-10:45am at the same Hillside Ward building. Kelly’s final resting spot will be at the Utah Veterans Memorial Cemetery, due to his father’s military service.