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The life of Jill Biden, an educator who worked full-time while Joe Biden was Vice President, defends him from protesters, and is a crucial part of his 2020 campaignhttps://www.businessinsider.in/slideshows/miscellaneous/the-life-of-jill-biden-an-educator-who-worked-full-time-while-joe-biden-was-vice-president-defends-him-from-protesters-and-is-a-crucial-part-of-his-2020-campaign/slidelist/74690751.cms2020-03-18T15:24:27+05:30

The life of Jill Biden, an educator who worked full-time while Joe Biden was Vice President, defends him from protesters, and is a crucial part of his 2020 campaign

Mar 18, 2020, 15:24 IST

Jill Tracy Jacobs was born in Hammonton, New Jersey, on June 3, 1951. Her father was a bank teller while her mother stayed home full time to care for the family's five daughters.

While growing up, Jill moved around a lot, eventually settling in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. She spent most of her childhood there and adopted a slight Philly accent as well as a lifelong love for local sports teams.

When she was 15, she started her first job as a waitress. "From an early age, I knew I wanted my own money, my own identity, my own career," she told Vogue in 2008.

Four years later, in 1971, Jill married Bill Stevenson, a former college football player whom she met the summer before graduating high school.

That year she also started college at the University of Delaware, majoring in English.

In 1972, she and Stevenson opened the Stone Balloon Tavern and Concert Hall by the University of Delaware. It would go on to become one of the country's most successful college bars.

This wasn't the only job Jill did in her college years. She also modeled for a local agency, but she insists she "wasn't a model."

By 1975, she and Stevenson had drifted apart and filed for divorce that year. She was in her junior year at the time, and decided to take the year off: "Things were a little too rough, too emotional. But I knew I would finish," she said.

Later that year, she was set up on a blind date with Joe Biden by Joe's brother, Frank. When Joe showed up at her front door, 24-year-old Jill recalled thinking: "Thank God it's only one date."

At the time, Joe Biden was a 33-year-old Delaware senator, widowed after a horrific car accident three years prior killed his wife Neilia and one-year-old daughter, Naomi.

Despite the fact that Joe Biden was nine years older and had two children, he and Jill had an instant connection and fell in love quickly.

Still, it took five marriage proposals for Jill Biden to say yes.

"By that time, of course, I had fallen in love with the boys, and I really felt that this marriage had to work. Because they had lost their mom, and I couldn't have them lose another mother," Jill told Vogue of the time.

Eventually, she said yes, and they married in an intimate ceremony in New York on June 17, 1977. The couple took the Biden sons on their honeymoon.

Despite her husband's very public life, Jill was always wary of the spotlight, didn't like politics, and wanted to make sure that she could still focus on her own ambitions.

As Joe built his political career, Jill completed a master's degree in education and worked as a teacher — all while pregnant.

The couple gave birth to Ashley Blazer Biden on June 8, 1981, and Jill decided to stop working for two years to look after Ashley, Beau, and Hunter.

Despite her husband's 1988 bid for the presidency — which he eventually dropped out of — Jill wasn't very involved in politics.

But this changed in 2004 when President George W. Bush was reelected. Then Jill urged Joe to run for president again because she was "so against" the 2003 Iraq war.

Meanwhile, at the age of 55, she earned a doctorate in education under her maiden name — Jill Jacobs — at the University of Delaware in 2007.

While Jill rarely campaigned for her husband in previous years, she took on a more public role in his 2008 race, holding a series of events with Michelle Obama.

But she still continued to teach, only joining her husband on the campaign trail on the weekends.

She even continued to teach English at Northern Virginia Community College during Joe's two terms as vice president, becoming the first known Second Lady to work while in the role.

She even deliberately distanced herself from her famous husband. Some of her students didn't even know she was Joe Biden's wife, calling her only by her preferred name, "Dr. B."

Meanwhile, she still attended to her duties as Second Lady, including supporting military families, attending the Invictus Games in London, and raising awareness on the value of community colleges.

But during Joe's vice presidency the Bidens were faced with another tragedy: Beau, Jill's stepson, and Joe's son, died of brain cancer in May 2015.

Beau's death led Joe to announce that he wasn't going to run for the 2016 presidential election. Jill stood by his side when he made that announcement at the White House in October 2015.

But when he decided to run in 2020, it was much to do with Jill. According to The New York Times, she was "enthusiastically" in favor of his decision.

Since then, she has tirelessly campaigned for her husband, even pulling out of her teaching responsibilities temporarily to do so.

She has taken on a public role as a vocal surrogate for her husband, as well as acted privately as a trusted confidante for him.

"She's like the adviser in chief. Kind of like the relationship [Joe Biden] had with Obama, he'd be the last person in the room — that's Jill", a long-time friend and former senator, Ted Kaufman said of her.

Sometimes Jill even takes on more commitments than her husband, throwing fundraisers, parades, or even house parties.

Her appearance on the campaign trail has also led to some bizarre moments.

At a campaign event in Iowa last November, Joe went off script and nibbled on his wife's finger while she was speaking at an event. She seemed to laugh it off.

Most recently, she jumped up to protect her husband after a protester stormed the stage at his Super Tuesday victory speech in Los Angeles. The moment quickly became a meme, and she was hailed "a hero" online.

But throughout the race, the Bidens have demonstrated a united front, and Joe has looked to his wife to keep him going. "The happiest times I've seen him have been when Jill is doing something," Sen. Kaufmann said.

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