Dr. Jill Biden:
A Worthy And Empowering Woman
By Anna Hessel
Visible Courage
Dr. Jill Biden, is a classic blonde beauty, who served admirably as Second Lady of The United States from 2009-2017, during the historic Obama-Biden administration. She has, from the beginning of Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, proved a standout surrogate for her husband. She has guts. On Super Tuesday, Jill displayed that courage when protesters charged the stage during Joe’s speech. Like a star fullback Jill shielded her other half in the midst of the fracas.
Jill-of-All-Trades And Master Of Many
Dr. Jill Biden was the only Second Lady that ever held a job during her husband’s tenure as Vice President.
This faithful and spirited lady, while being friendly and feminine, has a backbone of pure steel. Like many of our finest First Ladies, Dr. Jill Biden is an accomplished woman in her own right. She has been married to the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, since 1977. While Second Lady she held a paying job (outside of government). Jill Biden is believed to be the only Second Lady to have ever worked during a spouse’s tenure as Vice President of the United States.
Education Her Passion
Jill Biden is a proud wife, mom, grandmother, pet owner and lifelong educator. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware. She has two masters degrees, the first from Villanova University and the second from West Chester University. And, impressively, a doctoral degree from her first alma mater, U. of Delaware. Dr. Biden has worked diligently to raise awareness of issues important to women, such as preventing breast cancer, the importance of community colleges, and the sacrifices our military families make for America’s future.
A Heroine For Health
Jill Biden took action when four friends in one year were diagnosed with breast cancer.
In 1993, Jill Biden had four friends stricken with breast cancer in quick succession. Driven to action, Jill founded the Biden Breast Health Initiative in the state of Delaware. Over the years the program has reached thousands of young women. The mission is to teach high school women the importance of early detection, including self-exams, and maintaining breast health through healthy lifestyle choices. Jill and her husband Joe Biden have served as honorary co-chairs for the Global Race for the Cure in Washington, D.C.
A Doctor of Education
An educator for over three decades, Dr. Jill Biden has taught in multiple venues, Early in her career she taught at a psychiatric hospital for adolescents and a public high school. While Second Lady, she championed her causes and taught English full-time at a Virginia community college. Dr. Jill considers our nation’s two year institutions to be, “One of America’s best kept secrets”. Her support underscores the crucial role these schools play in the education of the strongest and smartest work force in the world. Her doctoral dissertation was on the maximization of student retention in two-year institutions. During the fall of 2010, she served as hostess for the very first White House summit on community colleges, alongside then-President Obama. In 2012 she participated in the “Community College to Career” tour across the U.S.
G.I. Mom Jill
As a military mom Jill has a deep understanding of the difficulties of having a loved one on overseas deployment. In June of 2012, she wrote the children’s book, “Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops”. Her poignant story, was inspired by real-life events. The story is told through the heart and eyes of Jill’s granddaughter Natalie, and depicts the year that her dad Beau Biden spent in Iraq. The book shares resources about how to support members of the military and the families that remain at home.
Community Action
The USO partnered with Dr. Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama to support and strengthen military families around the world. The “Joining Forces” initiative, focused on three main issues facing military families – education, employment and wellness. The initiative helped challenge our nation to find ways of engaging and uplifting service member’s families in our communities. Their work was aimed at encouraging action from faith-based institutions, charitable organizations, non-profits, businesses, government, and the private citizen.
Memories In Memoir
Mrs. Biden has authored numerous other books, including her memoir, “Where the Light Enters“. In this book she describes her relationship with Joe. At the time they met Joe was a handsome and dapper 31-year-old U. S. Senator. He was a widower, having lost his wife and baby daughter four years earlier in a devastating car crash. He was left to raise his two young sons alone. Jill, nine years younger, was still a student at the University of Delaware. Joe’s brother, Frank arranged for the two to meet. The story goes, that when Joe called her out of the blue, her first words to Joe Biden were, “How did you get this number?” Something they still joke about today.
Five Proposals
Jill had been married before. In her touching memoir, she explains when she met Senator Biden she was impressed with his gentle kindness and his polite demeanor, and excellent manners. She soon found herself immersed in the “boisterous”, loyal, and close-knit Biden family. Jill received five different proposals from the future Vice President before she agreed to marry him. Dr. Biden has said she loved Joe and “had fallen in love with the boys”, Hunter and Beau. Her hesitation was because, “I just knew Beau and Hunter had already lost one mother, and I had to make absolutely sure that our marriage would work”. She adds, “I wanted to make sure they wouldn’t lose another mother because our marriage didn’t work.”
See Joe And Jill Run
Mrs. Biden has a charming sense of humor. In an interview with Reuters, she emphasizes the need to keep things fun. She tells about being the campaign prankster. While on the campaign trail back in 2008, she pulled some pranks on her spouse, such as putting a plastic rat on a podium that he used and then placing it on his pillow later that same night. Jill Biden understands although politics is their life, there is always time for a little fun.
Running Marathons
Jill started running after realizing she was short of breath with slight exertion.
Dr. Biden has competed in many half-marathons, 10K, and 5K races, according to a 2010 interview in Runner’s World magazine. Her interest in running began in the 1990’s when she and Joe were asked to kick off a Komen Race for the Cure. After sounding the starting horn they were forced to run to get out-of-the-way. She quickly noticed a lack of physical endurance, “I got so winded that I said, I’m going to start running”. Her first run, about a ⅓ of a mile, was around her own neighborhood in Delaware.
Dr. Biden’s Beginnings
Jill Tracy Jacobs was born in Hammonton, N.J. on June 3, 1951. Dr. Biden is the eldest of five girls. She grew up in Willow Grove, PA, just outside of Philadelphia. Her father was a banker, and her mother a homemaker. In a Vogue Magazine interview, she said her father, Donald Jacobs, started his career as a bank teller. He went on to become a vice-president at a financial institution in Chestnut Hill, PA. He died in 1999 at 72. Her mother, Bonny Jean Jacobs died in 2008 only one month prior to the 2008 presidential election. She has described the loss of each of her parents as “devastating”.
Successful Children
Their oldest son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46. During his accomplished lifetime, Beau served as Attorney General for the State of Delaware, as well as serving as a Major in the Delaware National Guard. Joe and Jill’s daughter Ashley is the Executive Director of the Delaware Center for Justice. Their other son Hunter is an attorney and chairman of the World Food Program USA. The Biden’s extended family includes two daughters-in-law, Kathleen and Hallie, and a son-in-law, Howard. They are also the very proud grandparents of five beautiful grandchildren: Hunter, Naomi, Finnegan, Natalie, and Maisy.
Stand By Jill
Jill and Joe Biden colored Easter eggs together again this year like so many other years.
Mrs. Biden has assured us that her husband will stand up against bullies “like Trump”. She is a vocal advocate against injustice, and continues her charitable work today with the Biden Foundation and the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children. Dr. Biden describes herself as a rebellious teen, who snuck out to swim at night and even smoked cigarettes. A woman of courage, fortitude, and style, she is often attired in royal blue, a natural beauty with an engaging smile and refreshingly down-to-earth attitude. Recent Tweets show a pony-tailed Jill coloring Easter eggs with her husband, offering encouragement to our nation during this difficult time of the COVID-19 crisis. Stand by your man, Dr. Biden – you’re already my first lady…
https://www.calamitypolitics.com/2020/03/15/biden-not-who-we-want-but-who-we-need12096/
https://www.calamitypolitics.com/2019/01/15/biden-unsafe-safe-choice/
