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nie stopped teaching high school 15 years ago,
so she and the kids depended on Brent’s mod-
est government salary to get by. She received a
lump sum of $400,000 from life insurance and
gets monthly payments in veterans’ and survi-
vors’ benefits. “It’s enough for now,” she says.
Charity has made a big difference. Someone
started a GoFundMe account that raised
$500,000 for her family. The nonprofit
Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation
paid off the remaining $250,000 balance on
her mortgage. An anonymous donor contacted
a local car dealer and gave the family a new
metallic gold Chevrolet Suburban. A man from
Florida cut the family a check for $10,000.
And last Christmas, the children received
truckloads of toys from people across the
country. Jennie is grateful. She wrote 300
Christmas cards responding to every letter that
had a return address. And the money has made
it possible to buy school supplies, clothes and
groceries. “I thank God every day for what’s
been given to us,” she says. “We’re not the only
family to suffer tragedy in this country or in
Afghanistan, for that matter, where innocent
people die every day.”
She is looking for ways to repay the debt.
On a recent Tuesday, she dropped the children
at school, then attended a business meeting
about her foundation and Follow the Flag,
another nonprofit that raises awareness of
veterans’ issues. After that, she visited a local
monument-maker to begin planning for North
Ogden’s gold-star memorial and to look at options
for Brent’s headstone, which she will share with
him one day. In between, she took a phone call
with Lynn Satterthwaite, a former North Ogden
city-council member who is running for North
Ogden mayor. The local politician Brent had
asked to serve as acting mayor while he deployed,
Brent Chugg, isn’t running.
Jennie is concerned about whether Brent’s
legacy is represented on the ballot. The
initiatives he spearheaded—like business
expansion, the town beautification program
and construction plans around the local
amphitheater—will likely be abandoned if an
ally doesn’t see them through. She believes
Satterthwaite will champion those efforts.
“This is an older community that struggles with
change,” she says.
The day before her anniversary, Jennie gets
home after her errands, just before the kids
return from school. Within minutes, the liv-
ing room is a mess of discarded clothes and
mandarin-orange peels, the kitchen table
covered with homework and books. An hour
later, Jennie is out the door on a grocery run
to purchase more oranges, Cheez-Its and fruit
snacks for Megan’s cheer practice; Gatorades
and brownies for Alex’s flag-football game;
and a costume for Ellie, who has “Pirate Day”
the next day at school.
After the football game, she wrangles the
kids for the nightly prayer before bed. They
change into their pajamas, brush their teeth
and retreat to their beds. Then the youngest
children decide they also want a lullaby. Jennie
steps into their darkened room and sings a Mor-
mon hymn. Her voice carries down the hallway
through the open bedroom door:For the temple is a holy place
Where we are sealed together.
As a child of God, I’ve learned this truth:
A family is forever. ^
Ellie Taylor plays with
cousin Vivian Pack in
her bedroom. Resting
on the dressers are
two framed flags
presented to each
member of the family
by the U.S. military