Calvert Family

Today hearts are broken and numb. Sadly, Elizabeth Jane Calvert, passed away November 8th, 2023 due to complications from a bacterial infection. It was very sudden and unexpected. She is survived by her husband, five children, parents, her loving family and her three dogs who are now all forced to navigate life without her. This will not be an easy feat; she was the guiding light in a family that has already endured so much and she was a rockstar at it.

Most know her as Jenny, but she was love, mom, sis, aunt, bestie, AXO sister, Coach Jen, Mrs. Jenny, Chris’s Jenny, Jen from Church, Jenny from Karate, the animal lover and so much more, and let us not forget that she was a die-hard sports fan. She loved those COUGS!!!

Jenny was truly a bright light in everyone’s lives. She was an amazing human who trained many years in the martial arts and earned a second-degree black belt. She was a warrior princess that after surviving cancer TWICE, and persevering through chemo and radiation still had an attitude that embodied positivity. A snippet of her many positive Team Calvert facebook page posts, “positive attitude can have immeasurable positive effects… on everything” says it all. Her positive attitude did just that for everyone she came in contact with. Becoming a mom, a teacher, a coach, and an all-around good friend came naturally to her and this allowed her selfless love and genuine kindness to shine through. She had a heart of gold.

Jenny very much loved her job working for the school district of Palm Beach County as an ESE coordinator, a teacher, a support facilitator and an intervention specialist because it gave her the opportunity to make a difference. While working at Lake Park Elementary, she volunteered her time often during summer vacation, as well as during the school year. She painted wall murals in the mail room, the school library, and was currently working on others for the schools media center makeover. She found joy in making the kids smile, any little bit she could do to get kids excited to maybe pick up a book made her happy. This is just one example of Jenny’s many positive influences that she shared with all of us.

Chris and Jenny were blessed with their five children through the Palm Beach County Foster Care Program. As parents, they have loved and supported their kids to overcome all the struggles that came along with their past circumstances and they have continuously instilled in them the strength to embrace their differences, often reminding them “Your differences are what makes you, YOU”. Over the years, the kids would complain about how hard a task maybe, and Jenny would offer up an “It’s OK! you can do hard things", always reassuring them that they could follow through with anything they put their mind to.

Jenny was a leader, she led by example. To run again was one of her post-cancer goals Just nine weeks after she was cleared to exercise Jenny ran the Trout Creek 15K trail run in Tampa, followed by the Palm Beach Half Marathon. She continued with this goal of running and ran countless community 5K runs alongside her children and friends teaching us all how to follow through and to never give up. She also wanted to bring the children in her community together. She led and organized an annual Easter “Amazing Race” for the neighborhood kids. This was a hit year after year! Yet, her number one goal was empowering her kids to be good. When talking about her children and school challenges she said “it is more important that they learn to be kind hearted people that love God and love others”. She led the way by championing their participation in team sports, by coaching them in Palm Beach Gardens for almost a decade, and by being members of the Christ Fellowship Church.

Jenny will be truly missed by her family, friends and the community; but without a doubt she has made us all better by being a part of our stories and in some way allowing us to be a part of hers. She often talked about perspectives. There is no question that her perspective of today would be … THIS SUCKS! and in that same breath she would rally the family to get through this “FUNK”, but she is not here.

If you would like to help them out, we are asking for a donation of any amount to help offset all that comes with such tragedy. Your support is truly appreciated.