Leona June (Smith) Krensing

Leona June Krensing (nee Smith), age 85, passed away peacefully on November 26, 2019 at Carefree Living in Babbitt, MN after a long illness. 

“Tootie” was born on June 2, 1934 in Clear Lake, SD and was raised in Browns Valley, MN where she met her schoolmate and future husband Keith William Krensing. They married on September 2, 1952.  In 1956, after Keith’s tour in Korea as an army sergeant, they moved to Babbitt when Keith began working as a foreman with Reserve Mining Company (later North Shore Mining). Together they had six children. Tootie worked at the Babbitt Clinic as a medical secretary and spent many summers behind the counter at the Babbitt Golf Course. They loved their adopted home of Babbitt and enjoyed the area’s great outdoors, sporting events, services and activities at the local Catholic church, and their many friends and acquaintances.  

Tootie is preceded in death by her father Donald Smith, mother Sr. Mildred Lotzer, brother Bud Smith, sister Lois Madsen, husband Keith, and son Bruce. She is survived by her sister Laura Consolo, brother John Lotzer, daughters Julie Keseley (Doug) and Joni Serena (Lee), sons Jeff, Michael and David, grandchildren Jennifer Job (Larry), Katie Cochran (Bob), Jarrett Krensing, Erika Lamb (Allan) and Tyler Serena, and greatgrandchildren Carson, Nathan and Lauren Job, Sierra Cochran, and Owen and Connor Lamb. 

Services will be conducted at St. Pius Catholic Church in Babbitt at 11 AM on Monday, December 2 followed by burial services at Argo Cemetery. 

The Krensing family would like to extend our gratitude to all the staff at Carefree Living for their attentiveness and loving care. In lieu of flowers, memorials are appreciated, or donations may be made in Tootie’s name to The Alzheimer’s Association.

 “Children are the only form of immortality that we can be sure of.”- Peter Ustinov

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