Jean Jennings, automotive writer. I remember her from back in the day when I was reading Car and Driver (she went by Jean Lindamood at the time).
Mrs. Jennings was hired at Car and Driver by David E. Davis Jr., a renowned figure in automotive journalism. In 1986, he took her with him after Rupert Murdoch offered to support a new type of car magazine, Automobile, which was aimed at more discerning readers and featured writers like P.J. O’Rourke, David Halberstam and Jim Harrison. Mrs. Jennings proved more than capable of keeping up with them.
“She and David were the only ones writing anything other than fanboy notes,” Kathleen Hamilton, a childhood friend who later worked for her at Automobile, said in an interview. “It was enthusiast writing, and she brought adventure to the car-world reader.”
I sort of halfway read “Automobile”, by which I mean I mostly thumbed through it on the newsstands but never bought an issue. I think I had checked out of the car magazine scene by the time she became Mrs. Jennings.
She was 70, which seems awfully young to me these days. Alzheimer’s got her.
I remember when I was a kid, reading the obits, the ages seemed to be in the late 60’s and early 70’s as being the most often age at death. Now due to many factors, if someone doesn’t make it to at least 80, the assumption is that they had some type of cancer or such.
Speaking of Alzheimer’s, I am 64, and a few years ago, a friend from work who is the same age was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. I only found out about his condition late last year, since I left that job of over 35 years over a decade ago.
My friend’s nationality was 1/4 American Indian, so I don’t know if that has anything to do with it, but it was still a shock to hear about him. My FIL died from Alzheimer’s but he was much older when diagnosed.