Rick Luessen's Mother Back in Valley City

After living in Russelville AR for many years, Rick's mother is now living in Valley City again. Not only that, she turned 101 last November 18th.  Here is an interesting article from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette almost 14 years ago.

LITTLE ROCK — Juanita Luessen, 87, and Lodema Jensen, 84, of Russellville are referred to by many as simply "the sisters."

They also are known as "energetic," "incredible" and "role models" for their work in the community by volunteering in several ways.

Friend and colleague Betty LaGrone, executive director of the Arkansas River Valley Arts Center, has known the women for more than a decade.

"They constructed costumes for almost 50 children who played orphans in our production of Annie," she said. "They made each child a dress, an apron and a nightcap - and at their own expense," she added. "Juanita and Lodema are always the first ones to volunteer when something is needed at the Arts Center, from providing refreshments to serving as docents. It is incredible how much these ladies do."Lodema said, "We started sewing when we were little girls because mother made all our clothes, and we had nothing else to do."

Juanita also has created bridal and pageant gowns.

She began working with Randy Dimmitt, who had a dress shop in Russellville in the late 1970s and early 1980s that catered to pageants, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture Web site. Elizabeth Ward, who was Miss Arkansas in 1980, wore one of Juanita's creations during her bid for Miss America in 1982.

One of the sisters' fellow golfers, Lynn Hardin, said, "They (the sisters) are probably as good a tailor or seamstress as you'll ever find. I belong to the Women's Southern Golf Association, and at one point, I asked them if they could make a jacket for me. They made that jacket without a pattern," she said. "These two ladies are unbelievable - they are wonderful people - they're flippin' amazing."

LaGrone said, "And they are such good sports about everything. I'm not that far behind them in age, but I hope that I can 'grow up' to be just like them."

Another friend, Dennis Overman, said, "Juanita and Lodema have an unbelievable zest for life. They have the energy and outlook of people half their age. Their attitudes are current, and their points of view are informed. You can talk to them about a number of issues."

Among the many activities that demonstrate the sisters' dedication to their community include maintaining landscaping and flower beds for multiple locations in Russellville, including the arts center, the city park, the library and for the Russellville Country Club.

Besides caring for flowers at the country club, Juanita is also a golfer and has been past president of the Russellville club's Women's Golf Association several times. She is a mainstay at her church, First Christian Church, where she serves as an elder. Lodema is the treasurer.

"Staying busy is part of why I can continue to grow older and older," Juanita said. "I'm not the type that sits around doing nothing. I'm sewing, playing bridge, golfing, or doing other things, "she said. "I usually wait to read until I'm in bed."

Lodema is an artist, and her works grace many homes in the state and in other parts of the country. A member of the Mid-South Watercolorists Association, she and her sister host a monthly artists' gathering at their home. Lodema carries on a busy schedule that includes many of the same activities as her sibling. The two sisters have lived together in various residences in Russellville for 20 years, she said.

The women were born in the Glencoe/Salem area of Fulton County in northeast Arkansas to Blanche Billingsley Cazort and Charles Edward Cazort. Neither of the women remembers much about their early years except that their father taught school there for a while.

"We were in northeast Arkansas about four years, and then we moved to Tishomingo, Okla.," Juanita said. While still living in Oklahoma, Charles Cazort went to work for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, wherehe was employed for 30 years, she said.

Not long after their stopover in Oklahoma, the family was transferred for Cazort's work to Crawford, Neb., and then to Spearfish, S.D. As teenagers in Crawford, both girls spent lots of time in the city swimming pool, near the fish hatchery her father had established, Juanita said.

Juanita finished high school in 1936 in Dexter, N.M., near Roswell, one of many places where the family lived over the years. Lodema said, "We thought Dexter was the end of the world, it was so isolated."

Not long after Juanita's graduation, the Cazorts moved again, leaving the older girl behind.

In the fall of 1936, Juanita entered Northern New Mexico University, but she found herselfmissing her family. By 1937, she had rejoined them at Valley City, N.D., where she took up coursework for a couple of years at Valley City State University. A few years later, she met and married a local boy, Frank Luessen, by whom she had four children. Juanita completed a degree in1957 and taught English and French for two decades.

"It was wonderful," she said. "What made it fun was that I've always felt that I had a good relationship with my students. I encouraged them to do the things that they wanted to do," Juanita said.

Her father is the inspiration for Juanita's determined community service.

"He always expected us to do our best, and we always did just that," she said.

While both daughters were raising their respective families, Charles Cazort retired from his government work in 1960 and moved back to his native Arkansas, this time to Russellville, where he and Blanche bought a farm and tried their hand at agriculture for a while, Juanita said. But the back-to-the-land approach was short-lived.

Lodema said, "Mother had to have some surgery, and didn't pop back, so they decided it would be more fun to sell real estate." Charles Cazort died suddenly in an accident in 1976.

Not long after the death of her father, Juanita's husband retired to live in Arkansas in 1978.

Lodema's path back to Arkansas was a more circuitous. She had been involved in art since the time she was a young child, she said. She got an art degree in 1945, and after college she married Walt Jensen, a Navy pilot. The couple had two children, a son and a daughter. She spent the first years of her marriage "running back and forth" and was unable to squeeze in time for her art. The family was stationed in the Philippines for a while, and returned to the United States in 1963, not long after the assassination of former president John F. Kennedy, she said.

Lodema picked up her lifelong love affair with art when they moved to Texas in 1965, she said. She returned to college to obtain a second degree in education, in 1969. However, shetaught home and family living, not art, in Raymondville, Texas, for about five years.

One day, her husband asked her how she would like to live in Mexico. Walter Jensen had retired from the Navy in 1971 and went to work as a pilot for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Guadalajara was still a resort at that time," she said. "We had a group of people who were lots of fun and who organized a little theater group. They asked me to create stage settings for the plays. Even though I had to improvise everything, I loved it," she said.

After learning that her husband had cancer, Lodema and her husband returned to the United States in 1984, and he died in early 1986. The sisters' only brother, Rodney, also died around the same time, Lodema added.

After her husband's death, Lodema moved in with Juanita. "Lodema and I had beentogether all our lives," Juanita said. "So many times, when my father was transferred, we didn't know anyone else, so we were each other's best friend. And we don't quarrel to this day."

Last September, Lodema had a one-woman show of her watercolor paintings at the Arkansas River Valley Arts Center. "I used to do a lot of scenes from Mexico," she said, "but now I like to paint things that I am familiar with, like landscapes and flowers. One of my favorites is magnolias." She is also helping to coordinate a workshop with Hot Springs watercolorist Richard Stephens that will be held Friday and Saturday at the River Valley Arts Center.

When asked about other activities, Lodema said she and her sister "both play golf, but she's much better at it. I think we are very fortunate to have been able to live together for all these yearsand get along so well," she said, laughing.

Juanita said, "I like to be involved. I love being with people. I believe in people - I love them all."

LaGrone said, "They are wonderful role models. They do so much for our community. They were going to move to another state last year, and because so many people count on them, there was almost an outcry - and everyone convinced them to stay."