Sophie Ann Jensen Kerker

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Sophie Ann Jensen was born on 27 Sep 1884 in Morocco, Indiana. She was the oldest child of:

Sophie was first named Anna Sophia Jensen, but as she grew up, she used the name Sophie more than Anna, and eventually used the form "Sophie Ann".

Sophie spent her childhood in Morocco. In her late teens, the family moved to Currie, Minnesota. She attended Mankato State Normal School and taught school in Currie for several years before meeting and marrying Thomas Dagobert Kerker of St Paul. The couple moved back to St Paul and started a family there. Their children were:

Sophie and Tom were a very devoted couple. They lived for many years in a large brick house on St Clair Ave that Tom designed and built. Tom was the owner of the Harper Nut Company. The company failed during the Depression.

After Tom's death around 1937, Sophie moved to a duplex that they owned (which Tom also designed and built) at 1282 Thomas/595 N Syndicate St in St Paul and lived there the rest of her life.

Sophie was a highly intelligent and educated woman. She read constantly and played the piano, and the house was crammed with books, music, and art.

In 1946, Sophie's oldest daughter Glenna and her children moved in with her, and Sophie helped raise a second generation. Sophie was very active. She was received into the Catholic Church in 1953. She lived into her nineties, dancing at her grandson Tom Van Keuren's wedding in 1976 at the age of 91. She died at the beginning of October, 1977, just a few weeks after her 93rd birthday.

This page is maintained by Robert Steven van Keuren.
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