Jennie is a mother, widow, and activist for a slew of causes, but the closest cause to her heart is education. The majority of her time she devotes to raising her seven children. As an active member and spokeswoman of the North Ogden and Utah communities, many people often look to Jennie as a bastion of strength; someone who’s indomitable in the face of adversity. Though her public life may seem squeaky clean to the average observer, Jennie is still human and has plenty of her own struggles she’s had to face along the way.
“Nobody knows how much time we have on this planet. What do we do with the time we do have and the opportunities that are presented to us? How can we try to have an impact?”
Jennie was left fatherless at a young age as a result of suicide. Left without a college degree and with a few kids to support, Jennie’s mom remained her rock during this trying time. Growing up, her natural competitiveness and knack for academics drove her to succeed. But as a young woman trying to find her place in the world, she found this competitiveness had a drawback: she became threatened by any woman that had a skill she didn’t possess. Jennie said, “[It could be] Someone who can cook really well or decorate really well… I’m just not good at that. I never have been.”
Jennie’s late husband, Major Brent Taylor, school teachers, and many close friends over the years reminded her that she had intrinsic worth, even if she couldn’t make the prettiest birthday cakes on the block. Unexpectedly and tragically, Brent Taylor was killed a few months after he was deployed to Afghanistan. This new perspective of mortality was hard for her and her children, and brought a reflective edge to their conversations. “Nobody knows how much time we have on this planet,” she said. “What do we do with the time we do have and the opportunities that are presented to us? How can we try to have an impact?”
Armed with the teachings of Major Taylor, she teaches the lesson of playing to everyone’s individual strengths and understanding everyone’s intrinsic, personal value. “Any good ‘us’ is going to have some give and take and it’s going to have some strengths and weaknesses,” she said. “If your group has all the same strengths, you’re not gonna get very far because you all probably have the same weaknesses.”
Listen to the full interview with this remarkable woman here.