Daryl’s Heavenly Father called him home on the evening of Friday, March 20th. Daryl left this earth peacefully, surrounded by his family and loved ones, after battles with leukemia and congestive heart failure.

Daryl Richard Jensen was born September 28th, 1938 to Adelbert John and Grace Nancy Ellen (Schindler) Jensen in Neenah, Wisconsin. Since childhood, Daryl loved life on his family’s Vinland farm. He and his four brothers played with toys they made from things lying around the farm when they weren’t tending to the dairy cattle and hogs. Adelbert (“Del”) kept workhorses even after buying a tractor, and Daryl frequently recalled the misadventures he and his brothers shared with the team of black geldings. On Sundays, Del would take the boys down past the railroad tracks by their Aunt Grace, who would then take them to Sunday School.

Known as “Jens” to his school friends, Daryl graduated from Neenah High School in 1956. A tragic car accident between his sophomore and junior year cut short his athletic pursuits, but his enthusiasm for sports never dwindled. After high school, Daryl attended the Chicago College of Advanced Traffic and worked for Consolidated Freight. He then began dispatching at Courtney & Plummer. After continuing employment at 4X Corporation, he joined the Michels Materials team until his retirement in 2002. To the delight of children across the region (including his own grandchildren), Daryl helped initiate the first Quarry Quest Days at the Tullar Road quarry. During his travels as a salesman, he developed many more lasting friendships throughout northeastern Wisconsin. He had difficulty entering a room where someone didn’t know him.

Daryl eloped with Gwendolyn Yvonne Courtney on March 13th, 1962 in Vincennes, Indiana and returned to the Fox Valley after a honeymoon in Florida. The couple bought a home together on Higgins Avenue in Neenah—where they welcomed their two beautiful daughters, Julie and Janine, into the world—before purchasing the Miracle farm back in Daryl’s beloved Vinland in 1968.

Ever the farm boy, Daryl raised registered Polled Herefords and cash cropped for nearly thirty years. The red, gambrel-roofed barn eventually emptied of steers, but Daryl kept his love of farming alive by watching his nephews and neighbors work their fields, earning him the nickname “The Inspector.” Every August, Daryl made a point to watch his children and then grandchildren show their beef, swine, sheep, and horses at the Winnebago County Fair, and he was known to raise a few bids during the Meat Animal Sale. Daryl’s ingenuity and fix-it skills continued to amaze his grandchildren right until the very end.

For many years, Daryl and Gwen took in Wisconsin’s beauty from the front seats of their Pace Arrow and later, their Winnebago. Favorite destinations included Boscobel and the Kickapoo Valley, where they acquired McIntosh, Wealthy, and Cortland apples to make their family-famous applesauce year after year. Daryl furthermore looked forward to annual trips to the “Florida House” to avoid the worst of the winters and to the family’s “Deer Shack” in Vilas County (where he certainly saw more fouled Smear hands than deer). He had more luck hunting and fishing with his beloved friends Ted Reinke and Ronny Buser and brother Don. After a hard day’s work (or an especially moving sermon), Daryl was always up for a good game of Sheepshead or Smear. NFL Sundays saw him switching rapidly between games (much to his family’s dizzying dismay), and he was known to “still be watching” Brewers and Bucks games and NASCAR races, despite the suspicious snores coming from his recliner.

Daryl is survived by his wife of 64 years, Gwen; two daughters and sons-in-law, Julienne and Doug Selle, Janine and Wayne Krueger; five grandchildren, Nikole (Ryan) Braun, Richard Westphal (special friend Alyssa Ross), David Westphal, Christian Krueger, and Hannah Krueger (special friend Nicholas Goeman); four great-grandchildren, Lilliana and Levi Braun, and Sophitia and Corran Westphal; brother-in-law and sister-in-law David and Margie Courtney; sister-in-law Janice Jensen; and many dear nieces and nephews.

Along with his parents, Daryl is preceded in death by his four brothers and sisters-in-law, Adelbert Jr. (Betty), William (Mary), Thomas (Georgia), and Donald; and a grandson, Elijah James Krueger.

A visitation for family and friends will be on Monday, March 30th, 2026 from 4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. at Mueller Funeral Home, 904 E. Main St., Winneconne, and on Tuesday, March 31st, 2026 from 9:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M. at First United Methodist Church, 108 W. Doty Ave., Neenah. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 A.M. at the church with Pastors Dave Eisley and Rebecca Henry officiating. Burial will follow in the Brooks Cemetery, 2988 Brooks Rd., Oshkosh.

Mueller Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations to St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

The family would like to specially thank the doctors (especially Drs. Abbi and Marada) and nurses at Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital for their dedication to Daryl in his final years, the staff and caregivers at Senior Stride Home Care—Susan, Deana, Piper, Shelly, Mary, Marlene, and dearest Barb—for the love and compassion they gave Daryl every day, and the care team at Memories Hospice (especially Mary) for helping him meet his Lord and Savior with dignity.