Who IS Jill Biden, Anyway?
Posted by: Amelia McDonell-Parry
Filed in:
news
11:45AM, Wednesday August 27th 2008
Now that Barack Obama has chosen Joe Biden as his running mate—and he’s due to speak tonight at the DNC—we decided to indulge our curiosity about his wife Jill. Is she as awesome as Michelle? Does she have a steely stare like Cindy McCain? Does she appreciate a pantsuit? Here’s the scoop on the potential Mrs. Vice-President.
FAMILY: Born Jill Jacobs in 1951, Jill is actually Joe Biden’s second wife. His first wife, Neilia died in a car accident, along with their baby daughter Naomi, in 1972, shortly after he was elected to the Senate. Joe Biden was actually sworn into office at the bedside of his young son Beau, who was also injured in the crash. Five years later, Jill and Joe were married in the Roman Catholic Church. The two met after he saw her picture in a local paper, and by coincidence his brother set him up with her. Jill raised his boy Beau and Robert as if they were her own—the two even included the boys in the wedding ceremony and took them on the honey moon—and also welcomed daughter Ashley. They now also are grandparents to five and live in Biden’s state of Delaware. Joe Biden is known for making the long commute from D.C. to Delaware every night to be with his family.
FRIENDS: It’s not clear who Jill Biden’s close friends are, probably because she’s not interested in hobnobbing with Washington’s elite. Like her husband, she considers herself a woman of working class roots and most of her friends are not in the public eye. However, with Biden now compaigning with Senator Obama, Jill and Obama’s wife Michelle are sure to become fast friends.
CAREER: Before she met and married Joe Biden, Jill was an English teacher, a career she still prioritizes—she’s currently an English professor at the Delaware Technical Community College, and has also worked with troubled teens for the last 20 years. As if there’s any question, the woman is a total smarty-pants, holding a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Delaware, two Master’s Degrees from West Chester University and Villanova University, as well as a Doctorate from the University of Delaware. In her spare time she is extremely committed to the breast cancer charity she started, Biden Breast Health Initiative, a program aimed at early detection of breast cancer. She was inspired to start the charity after three of her friends were diagnosed with the disease in the same year.
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atlgirl
wrote on August 27 2008 @ 03:07 pm: [report]
I don’t know much about Jill Biden, but from the little I’ve read, she seems great. And she’s got a beautiful, natural look.
Cheryl Parry
wrote on August 28 2008 @ 07:47 am: [report]
Thanks for this! What an amazing woman and what an amazing family! Thus far so little has been written about her that this is far overdue. What an example both Michelle Obama and Jill Biden set. Both are very intelligent, strong, and deeply devoted to the important work of raising a family and then because they are so grateful for the opportunities they have had, go beyond that to contributing to the extended family of humanity. Thank you for introducing us to her.
Muriel Lambrecht
wrote on August 28 2008 @ 12:28 pm: [report]
A very close friend of mine is the uncle of Bill (Steve)
Stevenson who was married to Jill Tracy Jacobs before
she met and married Joe Biden. They were divorced and
my friend lost track of the lovely Jill, altho he did
know she had remarried. Her ex-husband owned a watering hole in Dover, Delaware called The Stone Balloon - - I
don’t know whether Jill and “Steve” were married at that
time. In any event, early marriages can be mistakes, and it is obvious that she and Joe were made for each
other - we wish them many more happy years together!
Kelly Ford-Stacy
wrote on September 7 2008 @ 10:19 am: [report]
I’m a teacher like Jill and worked with her for 4 years. Of those 4 years, two of them were spent having coffee together every morning. She was the same each and every day…lovely, kind, down-to-earth, practical, and real. I remember when she was thinking about adopting and giving her name to a “cause” which turned out to be the BBI; she said, “she would have to think a lot about the “cause” she selected because she would be committing herself for a lifetime.” Another time a group of teachers were taking a night course at Del Tech where she works. There were folders on the table with our names on them. When we picked them up, she had written a “hello” message to each one of us, and it had been years since she had seen us. I’m very happy the press is kind to her. She has worked tirelessly to support her husband, family, and community, and she always gave the impression she never took a vote for granted. Her efforts should be recognized and appreciated. Thank you, Kelly
Cindy
wrote on September 24 2008 @ 07:22 pm: [report]
Rock club owner Bill Stevenson, who helped launch Bruce Springsteen’s career, and Jill Biden were married for 7 years. The pair even hosted fundraisers for Biden’s first Senate run in 1972 at their famous Stone Balloon Club in Newark, DELaware.
But, five years later, they were locked in a bitter divorce battle—and Jill was dating the man who’s now the Democratic vice presidential candidate.
“We had drifted apart during the preceding year,” Stevenson writes in his memoir “Stone Balloon; The Early Years.
In an early divorce agreement, Stevenson agreed to make substantial alimony payments to Jill for life. But she hired new lawyers who demanded that she get half of the Stone Balloon—and Stevenson put his foot down.
“I was in a war with the only person on earth I trusted and cared about,” he writes.
After a headline—making divorce trial that cost him $50,000 in legal fees, Stevenson kept his beloved bar.
All his payments to Jill ceased when she got married to Biden in June 1977.