Remembering Ann Morgan Jensen, longtime UC Berkeley librarian

Ann at her 80th birthday celebration. Courtesy of her family

Ann Morgan Jensen, 80, passed away on Feb. 21 from metastatic cancer. She died peacefully, surrounded by family.

Ann was born in Santa Rosa, California, to Marjorie McGregor Foster and Gordon Lynn Foster. She joined 3-year-old brother John Michael Foster.

A few years later, the family moved to Mill Valley where Gordon became the pastor of the Mill Valley Community Church (now UCC) for the next 27 years. Two more brothers followed: Malcolm McGregor Foster and Kirk Duncan Foster. The church community and the wider Mill Valley community was a wonderful environment for a childhood of riding bikes with her gang of brothers all around the hilly wooded streets and hiking all over Mt. Tam from the parsonage in Mill Valley to Stinson Beach and the trails in between.

Ann attended Katharine Branson School in Ross, which separated her from the social and educational life of her siblings and peers, but allowed her to develop her interests in serious academics. She went on to Occidental College where she earned a BA in Philosophy.

After graduation she moved to Berkeley to become a member of the 1967 training cohort at the Alameda County Probation Department, inspired by a sociology class in college where she studied under an inspiring mentor who worked with at-risk girls in Los Angeles. In that same cohort she met Joseph Jensen, who had just returned from the Peace Corps in Venezuela after he had graduated from Cal. After the training, he worked with youth in the foster care system and Ann became a counselor at Alameda County Girl’s Home, where she worked with incarcerated young women. They had fun finishing their training, dated for 5 months and then became engaged.

They were married in 1968 in her father’s church with the reception afterwards at her parents’ home on the deck her oldest brother built for the occasion. They remained married for 58 years. They supported each other early on through job changes and education programs. Joe completed his Masters in Industrial Arts at San Francisco State and later got a California State teaching credential. He taught for seven years and then decided to become a general contractor. Ann worked at many interesting and unusual jobs while supporting Joe’s educational pursuit, including a director of Library Line at the Berkeley Public Library (a library delivery service for homebound residents), a director of student volunteers at Alta Bates Hospital and a library research assistant for a genetic engineering startup company.

In 1972 they welcomed their daughter, Sara, followed two years later by their son Peter. The next years were filled with work, family life, and supporting and enjoying their kids’ involvement in sports, theater and music.

Ann earned her Masters of Library and Information Science at UC Berkeley in 1983. She worked for the next 23 years as a science librarian. Her first library job was at the Lawrence Hall of Science, followed by the physics library at Stanford, and then libraries at UC Berkeley starting in engineering, then chemistry, and finally as the head librarian at the math library. Librarianship was a great profession for Ann because it gave her the opportunity to learn about the different literature bases and research style of the professors and students. She loved the variety across her different libraries — it was never boring! Ann retired from UC Berkeley in 2006 and for the next two years she worked on special projects at the California Digital Library.

After they both retired, Ann and Joe enjoyed traveling, particularly hiking and walking trips and trips to Ashland and Cedar City to see plays. They enjoyed inn-to-inn walking trips in rural England, especially when they could visit a cathedral for evensong. They loved doing major hikes in national parks and going to early musical concerts, particularly Bach. Ann also enjoyed singing with Chora Nova, a local chorus, for 18 years. They also loved spending time with their six grandchildren, who all arrived within a five-year period between 2004 and 2010. They added great fun and much joy to Ann’s last years.

Ann is survived by her husband Joe; her daughter Sara Jensen, son-in-law Jonathan Weinstein and grandchildren Nathaniel and Amara Weinstein; her son Peter Jensen, daughter-in-law Danielle Jensen and grandchildren Riley, Tom, Bella and Andrew Jensen; and her brothers Michael and Kirk Foster plus nephews, a niece and grandniece.

A memorial service is planned for May 16 at 2 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Alameda County Foodbank, a charity very important to Ann and Joe for its work in their community.

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