- Date Of Birth: May 27, 1943
- Date Of Death: March 7, 2022
- State: Colorado
John William Oien, age 78, died peacefully at home with daughters and wife by his side on March 7, 2022. John was a loving example of the importance of faith in Jesus to his family. John 10:27-28 are words he would strongly adhere too: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
John was born during the War of the Pacific – WWII on May 27, 1943 in Long Beach, California the son of Paul and Kathryn “Hoffman” Oien. He spent his youth in Southern California, graduating from Paramount High School in 1961. During his senior year he was awarded first prize in the industrial arts competition for his pentagon house plans. He studied Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Arizona State University and California Polytechnic University graduating in 1968 with a B.S. degree in Environmental Design with an option in Landscape Architecture.
At his brother’s wedding in 1975 he met his love, Jenifer Bjelke and they married on June 5, 1976, in Arleta, California. After their honeymoon in Hawaii, they made their home in Salmon, Idaho where they finished building the house John designed and welcomed their first daughter, Julie. In 1979 they moved to Delta, Colorado where the family continued to grow with daughter Janet, son Jens and dogs Tippy and Mia.
John had many hobbies including model building, photography, wood carving, needle crafts – crewel, wood working, gardening and landscaping, stamp collecting, and genealogy. In recent years he shared his stewardship for creation and love for landscaping with his children as he designed detailed plans for their home’s outdoor spaces and helped with the planting.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul and Kathryn Oien; and is survived by wife Jenifer, daughters Julie (Mark) Orth, Janet Oien, and son Jens (Emily) Oien; and 6 grandchildren Elsa, Katherine, Jakob, Kari, Nicholas, and Soren; and brothers Wendell (Eileen) Oien and Keith (Kathleen) Oien; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
