Jeni was first diagnosed with a malignant tumor of the brain stem at age 6. Surgery and chemotherapy enabled her to live for another an decade and a half, although the thought of the cancer returning was always in the background.

In 2002, her cancer came back with a vengeance. She fought it for over a year, suffering the many indignities and infirmities that cancer brings with it. She kept a positive attitude throughout, continuing to make plans for the future until the very end--a lesson for us all.

Jeni affected all whom she met in her nearly twenty-two years on this earth. Many have shared memories and recollections of her in written form--some of which can be read on her website. Other fond memories of Jeni will remain carefully ensconced in the hearts of those who will always love her.

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says: "There, she is gone!"

"Gone where?"

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when
someone at my side says: "She is gone!" there are other eyes watching her
coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: "Here she comes!"

That is dying.
--Henry Van Dyke

1999 Ventura High School Homecoming Queen

Can we be sure of anything in life? Perhaps not. But anyone who has known Jeni can take with them a certainty that good exists in this world; that some people who pass through this world care more for others than for themselves; that some love tenderly, recklessly, and with abandon; give of themselves freely and happily; and refuse to let the darkness of the world dampen their deeply held belief in goodness and beauty.

Jeni's friends are certain of these things, because they have experienced them. We will miss this fountain of beauty and graciousness. But like a stream that has its source high in the mountains, the reality of Jeni's love and beauty will continue to flow through the hearts of those who know and love her.

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Jeni's website