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Pharmacy, Dress Store Owner Dies: Fresno Woman Operated Triple J Drugs and Sheri's Dress Shop.

Posted on: Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 12:02 CDT

By Jim Steinberg, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

May 16--Margaret Ann Jorgensen's grandchildren would hear from Fresno school friends that she was "one hot grandma," says a daughter, Joni Jorgensen-Risk.

Time never erased the physical beauty of Mrs. Jorgensen, who in younger years had won a Miss McMinnville, Ore., beauty contest, her daughter says.

Mrs. Jorgensen, who had owned Fresno pharmacy and dress stores, died May 7. She was 74.

Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. today in St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church.

Mrs. Jorgensen was born in Oregon and grew up on the family farm before starting a varied career in retail sales, beginning with a job in the Montgomery Ward's fashion department as a teen.

She married Arthur Jorgensen in 1949, and the couple moved to Fresno in 1962, operating Triple J Drugs at Cedar and Ashlan avenues. Mrs. Jorgensen next opened Sheri's dress shop with her friend Janelle Dennison.

Jorgensen-Risk, of Grass Valley, singles out her mother's more prominent traits: "Stamina. She barreled through life, and made it work for her. She took what life had to offer and made it work."

Mrs. Jorgensen also operated as a buyer for the clothiers Walter Smith's and Coffee's in Fresno. She made a career change at about 50, says daughter Lisa Nilmeier of Fresno, becoming an insurance agent: "It was a big jump. She traveled up and down the state. She renewed her insurance license this year. She loved it. She took full responsibility for her clients."

Personal interaction with clients most rewarded her mother, Nilmeier says: "She took it upon herself to care for her clients. One older couple lived down the street, and she cooked for them.

"She had clients in Pismo Beach, Bakersfield and Shell Beach."

Mrs. Jorgensen's instinct to nurture was pronounced in caring for her five children and seven grandchildren, says son Jeff Jorgensen. Asked to name Mrs. Jorgensen's key motivations in life, he says instantly, "Love of family."

After that, he says, his mother loved to "work and fiddle in the yard. That was her main outlet."

Jeff Jorgensen recalls how his mother stayed by his father's side for four months when he was hospitalized with a terminal illness. Mr. Jorgensen died in 1998.

In about 2000, Mrs. Jorgensen and Donald Cutteridge became companions and she involved herself in his activities with the Shriners and their medical care program for children.

Mrs. Jorgensen worked to raise money for the Shriners transportation fund, Nilmeier says. The fund finances the cost of sending sick and injured children for treatment in Shriner medical facilities in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Mrs. Jorgensen loved to travel. She had recently returned from Scotland and Europe. She enjoyed tour cruises and loved to cook, as she did all her adult years.

Mrs. Jorgensen also is survived by children Gary and Greg Jorgensen, both of Fresno.

The family requests that any remembrance be sent to the Transportation Fund, Tehran Shrine Center, in Fresno; to the Capuchin Franciscans in Burlingame; or to a favorite charity.

The reporter can be reached at jsteinberg@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6311.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Fresno Bee

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