Stanley O. Jorgensen

Stanley O. Jorgensen passed away August 27 from heart failure at Monroe House in Moses Lake.

He was born in South Grove Township, IL on November 10, 1914. One of five children of Danish immigrants, he grew up on the family farm in northern Illinois. He always enjoyed farming and his vocation out of high school involved agriculture as an employee of the Dekalb Hybrid Seed Company. He went on to become the youngest manager of one of eleven production plants in the company when he was placed in charge of the Grinnell, Iowa facility at age thirty-five. After twenty-five years with Dekalb, he was hired to manage the first instant mashed potato flake plant in the United States. The plant, located in Barnsville MN, produced potato flakes for Betty Crocker Foods. In 1961 he moved the family to Rexburg, Idaho where he managed a french fry plant for Roger’s Brothers Co. His final career change came when he moved to Great Falls, Montana in 1962 and started his own business as a factory distributor of ball bearings. Expansion of that business brought him to Moses Lake in 1974 to open the company’s second of what later became four retail stores in the northwest.

He was preceded in death by his wife Helen and their sons Kurt and Karl Jorgensen.

In 1978 he married Alverda Jones who still resides at their residence at Monroe House. He is survived by his son Kraig (Linda) of Moses Lake, daughter Susan Devaney of Portland, Maine, daughter-in-law Esther Jorgensen of Fennville, MI, six grandchildren, six great grandchildren and a sister, Mary Lou Heale of Malta, IL.

His surviving family by marriage includes Kent (Pam) Jones of Moses Lake, Jerry (Kathy) of Seattle, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Stan was active in local government as a city council member in Grinnell, Iowa, a member of the Elks Club, and a member of Rotary International since 1937. He has been a longtime member of the United Methodist Church. His hobbies included golf, darts, hunting, flying, gardening, and world travel as well as his 1917 Ford Model T. His wit and wisdom will be missed by all who knew him.

Memorial services will be held at the United Methodist Church, 746 S. Ironwood Drive, Moses Lake at 11 a.m. on September 19. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Rotary Foundation International at Moses Lake Rotary Club, P.O. Box 525, Moses Lake, WA 98837.