Q: What do Jill Biden and Judith Peabody have in common?
A: Humility.
You probably know who Jill is. But did you know that the FOF Second Lady of the United States (she’s married to VP Joe Biden) still works? She teaches English at a community college in Virginia; no other Second Lady drew a paycheck while her husband was in office, according to an article in Marie Claire.
Jill doesn’t have a single picture of her famous husband in her office cubicle (yes, cubicle). She treats her staff like family. And when a student asked if she was related to the VP, she simply answered, “yes.”
Judith Peabody, a wealthy New York socialite and philanthropist who died last month at 80, may have looked like a fancy lady in her Adolfo suits. She was far from fancy, however, when she showed up in 1985 at the office of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and offered to volunteer. She felt that her social position “came with a sense of obligation,” according to an article in The New York Times. And she worked closely with AIDS patients and their families when the world was afraid to go near them (remember the movie Philadelphia?)
I love learning about women like Judith and Jill. They are spectacular women, for sure.
