Jenny Myrrhia Lapekas, of Williamsburg, Virginia, passed away peacefully on January 19th after a long and courageous battle with cancer.

Jenny grew up in the tiny town of Bangor, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Alvernia University with a Bachelor’s in English and went on to obtain a Master of Arts from Kutztown University. After graduate school, Jenny became a college professor — she taught Composition, English Literature and Public Speaking at a number of universities where she was openly adored by her students, one of whom wrote in her end-of-semester class evaluation, “Jenny is more than just a good professor — she’s a good person. I’ve never seen someone try so hard to connect with every single student. She makes us feel like we’re one big family.”

Hungry to try something different and fast approaching forty, the age at which most people hope to be settling into a career instead of pursuing a brand new one, Jenny made the gutsy decision to leave higher education altogether. And it paid off. She found her true “work family” as a sales specialist for Liebherr, a construction machine manufacturer, which remained her place of employment until her passing.

Jenny once declared that she wanted to be buried in a shirt that read “I’m Literally Dead Right Now.” A joke, of course, but also a perfect example of her offbeat brand of comedy. And she was just as smart as she was funny. She read and could quote Kurt Vonnegut and wrote academic essays on films like Spirited Away and American Psycho, many of which were published online. At the time of her death she was working on a novel called The Dinosaur Garden. She leaves behind a prolific body of work as well as a legacy of love, strength, compassion and humor that will never be forgotten by those of us whose lives she touched.

Jenny is preceded in death by her mother, Sandra Lee Lapekas, of Bangor, Pennsylvania. She is survived by her father, Stephen J. Lapekas, of Chicago, Illinois; her brother, Joshua Lapekas, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; a whole host of aunts & uncles, nieces & nephews; and her loving husband, Matthew Swem, of Williamsburg, Virginia.

The family wishes to express their enormous gratitude and appreciation to the angels in disguise working at Riverside Hospice. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for everything.