James R. Christensen

James R. Christensen July 30, 1934 - May 16, 2026 Jim was born on the Christensen Dairy Farm in Omaha, Nebraska, July 30, 1934, the seventh child of Marie Kristina Jakobine “Bine” Nielsen and John Christensen. Both Bine (pronounced Bean-uh) and John were immigrants from Denmark. In 1952 when he was delivering milk around town for Christensen Dairy, he happened to deliver to the home of his future wife’s grandmother, Sophia Hansen. She told her granddaughter Janet “I have the nicest milkman delivering our milk.” Action was taken for 16-year-old Janet to meet 18-year-old Jim at the Benson Theatre, with Janet’s older sister Joan in tow. Janet and Jim courted for two years, when Janet C. David married James R. Christensen in 1954. The Christensen Dairy Farm on 108th & Blondo was Jim’s home until he enlisted in the US Navy in 1958. From 1958 to 1960 he served in the Navy where he learned to be a carpenter. During this time, he was stationed on a repair ship off the Virginia coast. When Jim was honorably discharged from the US Navy in 1960, the couple moved back to Omaha, living in the Christensen Dairy bunkhouse (the farm hands moved out by then!). Back in Omaha, Jim went to work for his brother Axel, as a plasterer, and when plaster evolved into drywall, he drywalled for Axel. He was short, but strong, often carrying 200 pounds of drywall sheets on his shoulder, while walking on drywall stilts. He bartended at night for his brother Hank, who owned Wayside Tavern on 85th & Maple. This was Jim’s work routine for 10 years. In 1984 he took over brother Axel’s drywall business, expanding the business with his brother John R. Christensen and Jerry Andreason, to approximately 60 employees in 2004. His business success would not have been possible without Leroy “Butch” Raabe as his foreman and daughter Nancy Sempek as the office manager. When Jim retired in 2004, daughter Nancy took over Christensen Drywall, still successfully running the business today. Jim loved being outdoors, no matter the weather conditions. By applying his carpentry skills learned in the Navy, he designed and built a 14-foot wooden motor boat, which he took out frequently on Carter Lake and the Missouri River. Often boating and water skiing with the Jensen brothers, Roy, Jack and Bob, this treasured pastime went along peacefully until the Jensen brothers talked Jim into changing his 25 horsepower motor to a 40-horse motor. This breakneck idea of the Jensen boys resulted in flipping the boat over, twice. When Jim was 40 years old, his 16-year-old son Jimmy pulled him slalom skiing on the Missouri River from Surfside Marina (north of downtown Omaha) to Blair Marina (now Cottonwood Marina), mile marker 628 to mile marker 651. A total of 23 nautical miles, against the river’s current. If you knew Jim back then, you remember he didn’t look as athletic as he was and adapted his ski equipment by using a heavy rope and wooden pole as his ski handle, because the force of pulling him out of the water broke conventional ski handles. He was an avid hunter of duck, goose, turkey, deer, and pheasant; anything that would allow him time to enjoy nature. He fished for walleye and croppy and spent many happy years with Janet enjoying their lake front cabin at Lake of the Ozarks. Every winter he and Jimmy, along with other male members of their family and friends, went snowmobiling together in the Upper Peninsula, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Never one to say no to an outdoor adventure, he sledded until he was 80. No matter how cold, he wore gloves only once, when it was -30 degrees F. Easily identifiable on the snowmobile trail with his open-faced helmet and cigar pressed between his lips. Jim is survived by his wife of 71 years, Janet, daughter Nancy and son-in-law Louis Sempek, son James Jr. “Jimmy” and daughter-in-law Sarah Pappas. Four grandchildren: Adam Sempek, Erin Sempek, Kyle Sempek, Cole Christensen. Four great-grandchildren. Preceded in death by his parents and six siblings: John H. “Hank,” Irving A. “Abe,” Axel, John R., Lillian, and Doris. Please consider a donation in Jim’s memory to one of the following organizations: • National Bleeding Disorders Foundation/NBDF • National Breast Cancer Foundation/NBCF • NU Foundation with “Chancellor John Christensen Scholarship” noted in memo line.