Jenny was born 19 Nov 1944 in Londonderry Ireland as a refugee during WWII. Her parents Albert and Laura Freyone were from Gibraltar. She died 1 June 2024 in Port Townsend WA at home under hospice care with a rare terminal illness, corticobasal neurodegeneration. She was 79 yrs old.
Ms. Brinch grew up in New York City, but moved to Denmark EU in 1971 with her husband, Sonnich Brinch who died here in 2021. The whole family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia in 1978. She received her Masters of Public Health from Uni. of Hawaii in 1984 & worked for USAID in Indonesia for a Child Survival Program. La Leche League was started in Jakarta by Ms. Brinch & she wrote a book on breastfeeding translated to Indonesian. The next 20 yrs were spent on the Big Island of Hawaii working as an AIDS Counselor & Tester. She retired in 1995 and moved to WA state to be with her children.
Jenny loved history, reading, musical theater, writing, political humor (especially John Stewart) and scuba diving. Navy Seals taught her to dive in the 60’s & she traveled to over 40 countries and dove around the world.
Social activism was a great concern to Jenny who considered herself a humanist. Her interests in Port Townsend included an Al Anon 12-Step Group, Non-Violent Communication (NVC), Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (QUUF) Buddhist Book Club & QUUF Writing Group. She was on the board for Jeffco NAMI WA (National Alliance Mental Illness) and taught Family to Family classes to help those with loved ones afflicted with brain illnesses. Her concern for the environment led her to build a solar house in rural Hawi (Hawaii) when the technology was in its infancy.
Jennifer is survived by her 3 children, Christina, Peter and Deanna as well as her grandchildren Nikolai, Matias and Ella Brinch Mortensen.
In lieu of flowers she asks people to donate to Habitat for Humanity.
The Memorial Service will be on 20 July at 1500 (3PM) at QUUF and will be live streamed (quuf.org). A potluck reception with her favorite carrot-cake will follow.
