Jean has been with Chesapeake Bank for 35 years. During her time with the bank, Jean worked her way up to become the first female president of Chesapeake Bank’s Trust Company … but that’s not all. Jean was also the first female president of the Richmond County Chamber of Commerce, the first female Commodore at Indian Creek Yacht and County Club after 53 years, and the first female chairman of the Rappahannock Westminster Canterbury Board.
Through all of her involvement, Jean does her best to give back to the Northern Neck community and help it become self-sustaining.
Like the old saying goes, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Jean tends to help community causes get off the ground until they can sustain themselves and become an integral part of the community.
One of those causes is the Partners for Lancaster County Schools, which provides affordable housing for teachers.
In our society, education is increasingly important, and without teachers, there is no foundation for education. Jean and the Partners for Lancaster County Schools built the Mercer Place, an affordable multifamily housing complex for the area’s teachers, nurses, law enforcement personnel and municipal employees. Jean also worked to raise more than $100,000 for the complex.
“With the Mercer Place, we bring good teachers here and make it affordable for them,” she said. “They’re the ones touching the lives of all of our children in the school system. They are the ones shaping and forming our children — who will be the adults in the next generation.”
The Mercer Project is truly a win-win situation. It provides the community with teachers which leads to improved education, but it is also self-sustaining because every unit is occupied and paid for. The Mercer Place is now a fully-functioning member of the Northern Neck community and economy.
Jean loves those kinds of opportunities—the ones where she can step in to provide assistance, but when it is done, she can step back, and watch it soar by itself.
Learn more about the Mercer Place and how you can get involved with the Partners for Lancaster County Schools Foundation.
