Jennifer Ash

The brightest of lights are often the most fleeting, shining on our lives so beautifully, yet so briefly. Jennifer Ash’s life was that way, a bright, beautiful light, shining the way for all those around her. She was a remarkable young woman; a brilliant doctor and teacher, a loving daughter, sister, and granddaughter, and a dear friend to so many. Jennifer was taken too soon, but her life was a gift to all who knew her.

Jennifer’s story began on a hot summer day in 1979, as the Fourth of July celebrations were readied in Indianapolis, Indiana. Those were tumultuous times in this country, which was undergoing an energy crisis, a hostage situation in Iran, and the end of the disco era here at home. On June 27, 1979, Joe and Jean (McDonald) Ash celebrated the birth of a beautiful baby girl at Methodist Hospital, a daughter they named Jennifer.

Jen joined her big sister Jeri in the family’s Mooresville home, and the two were inseparable since birth. Jeri was three years and four days older than Jen, but the two were more like twins their entire lives. They loved being outside and playing together, with their beloved Siberian husky following them everywhere they went.

The family was faithful members of the First United Methodist Church in Mooresville, the church where Jen was baptized, and where she was a lifelong member.

Jen attended Neil Armstrong Elementary School, where she was a very bright student. Jennifer was a very intelligent young girl, whose creativity and humor were apparent from an early age. Jen was just a very happy, fun-loving girl, who loved life and loved to learn. Both of her parents were teachers, and they passed their love for learning on to their children.

Jen and Jeri were very close as girls, and enjoyed playing all kinds of sports together, from volleyball in the fall, to basketball in the winter, to softball in the springtime. Jen was a hard-working athlete, who worked hard to become better, just as she did everything.

Jen had a strong perfectionist streak to her, and was never satisfied with simply getting by; she always went the extra mile, always going a step further than the rest in everything she ever did. She had goals and dreams from an early age, and knew what she wanted to do since the third grade: to become a pharmacist.

So, after she graduated from Mooresville High School in 1997, Jen set out to achieve that goal, and began studying at Butler University in Indianapolis. She made many great friends there, joining the Alpha Phi sorority, where her quick wit, infectious laugh and constant smile always made her the life of the party.

Jen also was incredibly driven, and completed her doctorate in just six years. Of course, always one to go the extra mile, Jennifer also took additional training, so she could work as a clinical pharmacist at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, too.

After she graduated with her doctorate in pharmacology from Butler in 2003, she began working at the hospital where she was born, a job she loved for giving her a chance to help others. Jen was always looking out for the people, always ready to help the underdog or the underprivileged.

Eventually, she took a teaching position at Rutgers University in New Jersey, following in her parents’ footsteps, and making them so proud. As she admitted, teaching was simply in her blood, and she was a natural, too. Her students appreciated her for challenging them in her classes, and she had an easygoing manner that helped her get her lessons across to her students.

After two years at Rutgers, Jen began to miss her hometown, and found a teaching position at her alma mater, going back to Butler University. In October of 2007, as she was making the trip back from New Jersey to Indianapolis, Jen made a very special stop in Ohio, where she adopted a wonderful boxer puppy named Sadie. Jen was always an animal lover, and true to form, she did plenty of research into which breed of dog was best for her, and which breeder was best.

Jen loved being back home again, back among her close friends and family. She had accomplished so much in her five years since graduating, and was wise beyond her years, yet remained the fun-loving young woman who lived each day to the fullest.

In March of 2008, Jen and some friends planned a great winter getaway, a snowboarding trip to Colorado. Sadly, Jen suffered a bad fall on the slopes there, causing arterial damage. Jennifer died on Saturday, March 22, 2008, in Denver, as a result of her injuries. She was 28.

True to her personality, Jennifer was an organ donor, willing to help people to her very last.

Jennifer was a remarkable young woman, as brilliant as she was beautiful, as fun-loving as she was focused. She was a doctor and teacher, and a loving daughter, sister, granddaughter and friend. She was taken too soon, but Jennifer’s life was a great gift to us, a gift we will cherish and remember forever. She will be so greatly missed.

Jennifer was preceded in death by her paternal grandparents, Lloyd and Lois Ash; maternal grandparents, C.G. and Jean McDonald.

She is survived by her parents, Joe and Jean (McDonald) Ash of Mooresville, Indiana; her sister, Jeri Ash of Westfield, Indiana; and her step-grandmother, Kathleen McDonald of Milltown, Indiana.

Funeral Services are scheduled for Friday, March 28, 2008, 11 a.m., at the First United Methodist Church, 900 Indianapolis Road, Mooresville, Indiana. Calling is Thursday, March 27, 2008, 3-8 p.m. at Carlisle & Son Funeral Chapel, Mooresville, and Friday, March 28, 2008, 10-11 a.m. at the church. Burial to follow at White Lick Cemetery, Mooresville. Officiating is Rev. Dennis Payton. Memorial Contributions may be made to the Dr. Jennifer L. Ash Memorial Pharmaceutical Scholarship Fund. Please visit www.carlisleandson.com or www.lifestorynet.com to share a favorite memory or photo of Jennifer, or to sign the online guest book.