Kind, creative, animal lover, political activist, volunteer.
Jennifer grew up in Arnold with her loving parents and two brothers.
She attended Archbishop Spaulding High School where she graduated in 1979. The following year she ran into a former classmate at a political demonstration and the two of them hit it off. That’s when she started dating Michele Scherer, a 1980 graduate of Archbishop Spaulding High School. The couple ended up spending the next 38 years together and eventually got married in 2011.
“Jenny,” as she preferred to be called, had many passions, including cooking, attending music festivals, volunteerin but would cook meat occasionally for her friends and family. “Jenny was a great cook,” said her spouse Michele.
She actually worked as a cook at several different restaurants in the Annapolis area over the years, but Jenny has multiple health issues; such as Fibromyalgia and COPD. Those issues wreaked havoc on her body, requiring lots of doctor visits and a variety of prescriptions to treat her condition. Getting health insurance was often an issue for Jenny. In the mid-1990s she was able to obtain domestic partner insurance after she did a lot of homework on the program.
However, she was resilient, according to Michele. Jenny and Michele spent much of their free time attending concerts and camping in Western Maryland or near the beach. On the way home from one trip, the couple saw a woman stranded at the side of the road with a flat tire. They stopped and Jenny went into action changing the tire much to the astonishment of the lady in distress, who appreciated it very much.
Michele had wanted to adopt a child for a long time before she and Jenny were a couple. After they were together a few years they began to pursue adoption, which led them to Russia. They brought a 15-month-old boy named Sasha home to Maryland in 2003.
Jenny became the stay-at-home parent of Sasha, partially because her illness limited her ability to work outside the home. “She loved being Sasha’s mom,” Michele said. Jenny was able to officially adopt Sasha a few years ago. He is 17 years old now and a senior at Glen Burnie High School. He is an honor student and has been taking some classes at Anne Arundel Community College.
Michele misses Jenny very much. “I just miss her presence. I can’t talk to her anymore,” Michele said. She is now focused on making sure Sasha has a bright future.
Jenny’s spouse, Michele Scherer, provided information for this profile.
Nov. 3, 1961 – May 11, 2018
Age 56
Lived with addiction 1 year
