Mike Lensing
He's got the 'keys' to having fun
Mike Lensing
- Age: 56
- Lives in: Iowa City
- Occupation: Funeral director
- Favorite thing: My children
More people probably know Michael Lensing than any other person in Iowa City, and it’s not just because of his profession.
He is a funeral director with a wickedly subversive sense of humor. Who else could lead bus trips to Chicago for the sole purpose of touring cemeteries where famous people are interred? Who else would think of and pose for a calendar featuring Men of the Mortuary?
Who else throws an annual summer party that happily brings disparate elements of our town together for backyard bonding? Well, it was annual, except of course the year when he broke a leg falling out of a tree while attempting to trim it.
He is the consummate host, the never-at-a-loss-for-words master of ceremonies, the man who can’t walk down the street without greeting nearly everyone he sees.
What makes him laugh?
“What makes me laugh is being able to laugh at myself,” he said. “Sometimes I will do something, and nobody maybe knows, but I know. And I just kind of like, ‘Oh my god. How did you do that?’
“I always have strange things happen to me. I’ve left things on top of my car and driven away. I remember driving to Chicago years ago, and we got to Tipton and all of a sudden we hear this ‘Ching, ching, ching, ching.’ I look back and there’s keys all over the interstate. Once I did that with a pair of shoes.”
— Susan Harman
