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Gertrude Glutsch Jensen was born on May 17, 1903 in Portland, Oregon. She attended Shatuck Grade School, and Lincoln High School before graduation from Franklin high School. Upon graduation in the 1920s, Gertrude attended Reed College, where she studied political science. Upon graduation from Reed, she became a free-lance journalist for The Oregonian for fourteen years. During this time, specifically the 1930s and 1940s, Gertrude worked to help people who were deaf, as her mother was deaf.

In 1938, she became a real estate broker and helped to create state legislation to regulate real estate brokerage conduct. This being the first such legislature in the nation. Gertrude really got her start in conservation activism when she took a trip with her son, Frederic, down the Columbia Gorge to Latourell Falls. There they saw loggers cutting down the trees. She was prompted to examine why loggers were allowed to log in the gorge.

With her new-found desire, Gertrude became the first chairwoman of the Oregon Columbia River Gorge Commission, which she was instrumental in forming. She retained this post from 1953 to 1969. During and after that time, she fought vigorously to keep industrial development out of the Gorge at one point launching a one woman campaign to oust members of the State Highway Commission who she felt were jeopardizing the gorge. She also fought a bitter battle to prevent the erection of a scrap steel mill at Cascade Locks. By the end of her tenure, she had been instrumental in designating 3,000 acres of Oregon land as scenic area.

Gertrude Jensen received numerous awards for her activism throughout her lifetime. These awards and distinctions include: The Award of Merit in New York from the American Society for Preservation of Scenic and Historic Areas (1953); the Matrix Table Award by the Portland Alumni Chapter of Theta Sigma Phi, a journalism honorary (1960); Department of Interior's Conservation Service Award (considered her greatest honor) (1961); Portland Women's Forum's Woman of the Year (1963); and she was the first recipient of Gov. Tom McCall's Distinguished Service Award (1964). She had also earned the name "Angel of the Gorge" by the mid-1960s.

Gertrude Glutsch Jensen was an amazing woman who was always trying to better the world. She was constantly trying to convince senators and politicians of the importance of her mission. Mrs. Jensen died in December of 1986 from a long battle with heart trouble. She was survived by her only son, two grandsons, and five great-grand children.

Source: "Death Takes Columbia Gorge Protector." The Oregonian. 28 December 1986. p. B1.)