Jennifer Parsons, 40, Owatonna

Our beloved Jennifer was tragically taken from us on April 15, 2026, as she sat in her car on the side of the road. She was just 40 years old. Jennifer was a very independent person and once thanked us for not making her wear dresses or do girly things. So, she spent her youth learning to hunt, fish, fix her car, ride motorcross bikes, catch salmon with her bare hands, and build geodesic domes. She felt strongly about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and spent months with the Ukrainian International brigade learning trench defense and becoming a squad leader before returning to Minnesota. An avid outdoorsman she climbed “the brontosaur’s back” at Alaska’s Worthington Glacier Park. She loved collecting fossils, rocks, and river sticks from the Yukon, Copper, Chena, and Totatlanika Rivers while on moose hunting and fishing trips. She loved rocks so much she majored in Geology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. After graduating she worked at Fort Knox gold mine as a geologist analyzing core samples. Jennifer loved books and was a lifelong fan of the Myst series. (She owned the Myst books both in English and Spanish.) She was a very creative person. She won a contest where you pretended to be an explorer in Myst keeping a field journal. She created whole creatures and drew colorful botanical and zoological illustrations of imaginary animals and fauna in the worlds she invented. Jennifer picked up languages quickly. She studied Latin, Spanish, Mandarin, some Japanese, and was learning Ukrainian in hopes of returning there. She leaves behind a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, a plethora of aunts, uncles, cousins, and her beloved grandmother. Jennifer had a particular love for animals, caring for pets at local shelters, and volunteering for different shelters across Alaska. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to your local humane society. God is good.