Jennifer Evans

Jenni Evans, loved life. She was devoted to her family. Everyone who knew Jenni knew she adored her nieces and nephew, as if they were her own children. They referred to Wednesday, as, Jenni's first morning in heaven and wondered how her flying lessons were going. In the five years that she underwent treatment for cancer, she befriended every other chemo patient, doctor, nurse, technician, unit clerk, lab tech, and transporter that she encountered. She loved the Alabama Crimson Tide and kept up with them until the end of her days. In school, she was a natural athlete who played fast pitched softball from 3rd grade through high school and played basketball as well. Jenni was a people person from the start. Her earliest jobs involved working directly with preschool children at early education centers such as the Jewish Community Center. Later, she worked with older children as camp counselor. During her days at John Carroll High School, she was a peer leader for Perspective spiritual retreats and had a knack for facilitating discussions, and sharing among members of a small group. In college she was active in her parish Search Team. (A program, for college students, that enables them the opportunity to reflect and share themselves, their friends, and their relationship to God.) Her Search Team experience strengthened Jenni's determination to share the light of Christ by doing what matters and having fun doing it. She had a never ending faith in the beauty and goodness in life. She particularly loved affirming workers she encountered who not only did their jobs well but did them with kindness, patience, and humor. These people were often surprised to find that someone had taken the time to inform the president of the company or their shift supervisor of the difference that worker made. Jenni once wrote, "My goal in life is to make a difference." Long before she received her degree in Behavioral and Social Psychology, at UAB, she understood the importance of making every person she encountered feel as if he or she were special and that they mattered. One person referred to Jenni as "her favorite boss, who made volunteering seem cool" Another wrote, "Thanks for allowing me to volunteer and teach kids about how FUN science can be. I never would have imagined that I could work without getting paid, teach others, and enjoy it." Judging by literally hundreds of Facebook anecdotes this week, posted by friends and acquaintances from grade school, to the McWane Science Center, to UAB Hospital and clinics, it would appear that she has achieved her goal. Jenni passed away Tuesday, October 9, 2012, at age 39. She is survived by her: parents, Barbara and Bruce Evans; sister, Julie Evans Cannova (Joseph), nieces, Ann Marie Cannova, Mary Catherine Cannova, and nephew, Joseph S. Cannova, Jr.; also her beloved maternal and paternal aunts and uncles, and very dear maternal and paternal first cousins. In Lieu of flowers or memorials the family request that donations be made in Jenni's memory to, St. Jude Children's' Research Hospital in Memphis TN. (Donor forms available at services). Funeral Mass will be held at, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, on Saturday, October 13, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. Visitation will be on Friday be from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., following Rosary at, 7:00 p.m. Father Ray Dunmeyer and Father Andy Kennedy officiating, with burial, at Jefferson Memorial Gardens East, in Trussville, AL.