Photo by Jody Isaackson Frank and Betty Jorgensen of rural Tyler were named Outstanding Senior Citizens of Lincoln County this summer by the Lincoln County Council on Aging.

TYLER — Just because they love kids and like to meet the needs of their community, Frank and Betty Jorgensen of Tyler have spent the past 40-plus years as volunteers in their community.

In recognition of their long-term commitment to service, the Lincoln County Council on Aging has selected the Jorgensens as recipients of this year’s Outstanding Senior Citizens of Lincoln County.

“We’re honored, but we don’t even know who nominated us,” Frank Jorgensen said.

“It had to be someone from Tyler,” Betty Jorgensen said. “Our kids said they didn’t do it, yet the local paper had a picture of us from our 50th wedding anniversary.”

Over the years, Frank Jorgensen has been an active leader in the community. He has been on the Lincoln County Fair Board for over 30 years and has chaired the fair board for 27 of them.

“I was clerk of Hope Township for 36 years,” he said, “and state director of the Pork Producers.”

Frank Jorgensen said he was one of the founding fathers of the Lincoln County Pork Producers as well as instrumental in getting agri-business classes started at the Tyler School.

“I took classes for two-and-a-half years,” he said, “and I enlisted Paul Bartz as instructor. Bartz later got into teaching Farm Management. He helped a lot of farmers through the farm crisis in the ’80s.”

Frank Jorgensen’s favorite volunteer position is with the American Legion.

“I’ve been a member for 36 years,” he said. “I’ve got a pretty full heart for that outfit. We’ve attended 140 military funerals over the years.”

During most of this time, Frank Jorgensen was a farmer and is currently a semi-retired farmer who still enjoys hunting and fishing as well as volunteering to play Santa Claus to his wife’s Mrs. Claus.

“We were enjoying the role so much that friends of ours who retired from playing Mr. and Mrs. Santa in Marshall sold us their costumes,” Betty Jorgensen said. Up until then, the Jorgensens had worn costumes provided by the city of Tyler. “So, the costumes we wear now are our own.”

Playing Mrs. Santa has been Betty Jorgensen’s favorite role, “even when the children would wet my dress,” she said.

Betty Jorgensen’s volunteering consisted of six years as Christian Day School teacher at Danebod Church in Tyler, teaching Sunday school there, too, for six years, serving with the Lutheran Church Women (LCW) and on their quilting committee as well as volunteering at the food shelf.

As a registered nurse working for Sunrise Manor in Tyler for 25 years, Betty Jorgensen got to know many of the parents of the children she now sees as Mrs. Santa.

“The funny thing is, the kids who first sat on our laps are now bringing their children to sit on our laps,” she said. “I tell them, ‘I know your mom and dad.'”

Betty Jorgensen’s hobbies include sewing, quilting, flower gardening and baking.

The Jorgensens were told they will be honored with public recognition at Lincoln County Fair during the 4-H Dress Revue in August.

“We were also invited to a (special) day at the State Fair,” Betty Jorgensen said.

The Jorgensens raised four children who all went to college, got married and now live in Tyler, with the exception of one farmer who lives near Tyler and one daughter who lives near Hanley Falls.

“We also have eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren,” Betty Jorgensen said. “We like to keep up with them by attending their sports events.”

When asked what motivated them to volunteer for so many activities, they said it’s just part of who they are.

“We love to do it,” Frank Jorgensen said. “We see something that needs to be done, and we volunteer to do it. It’s just part of our life.”