Holly Lucille (Phillips) Jennings
Holly Lucille (Phillips) Jennings passed away, peacefully, on September 11, 2024, at the Serenity House hospice in Santa Barbara, CA. She was 89 years old. Holly, a third generation Californian, was born in Madera and raised in the nearby small town of Chowchilla. She attended elementary schools there and graduated from Chowchilla Union High School in 1953. She obtained her B.A. degree from the University of Redlands in 1957 (in absentia). In 1956 she had married Kent Jennings, her high school sweetheart.
They spent their first four years of marriage in Chapel Hill, NC, where their first two children were born and where Kent was pursuing a Ph.D. In 1960 they moved to the Washington D.C. area, where their third, last child was born. Three years later they moved to Ann Arbor, MI, which was to be their home base for the next two decades. In 1982, now empty nesters, they moved to Santa Barbara, CA, for the duration,
Holly was a devoted and much-loved wife, mother, grandmother, and aunt. She had a winsome smile and a contagious laugh. She celebrated nearly all holidays and the festivities associated with them. That even extended to bringing out little flags while celebrating one July 4th at a Swedish campground. Although she professed to having no artistic skills, her household was awash with a wide variety of decorative and practical outcomes based on her needlepoint endeavors. She also drew hilarious family-related cartoons. She wasn’t keen on competitive games but she loved doing cross-word puzzles. Cooking was not her favorite pastime except when it involved baking—at which she excelled.
Holly was a voracious reader and an entertaining story .teller. Some of these stories are preserved in papers from her creative writing classes and in vignettes composed mainly for family members. She had ample source material based on her colorful family background and world-wide travels. In relating an anecdote aloud Holly favored color and dramatic effect over strict factual accuracy, much to the delight of her listeners (and the occasional wonderment of her more fastidious husband).
When she was twelve Holly fell victim to the polio epidemic that was sweeping the country in the 1940s and 50s. She was hospitalized for a few weeks and was released fully mobile, but with a slightly weaker left side. This weakness failed to prevent her from pursuing an active physical life, including playing snare drum in her high school marching band. Decades later, however, she experienced post-polio syndrome, which constrained her physical activities.
Holly lived a life full of volunteer service, especially with respect to international students and their families, with whom she often developed lasting relationships. In Ann Arbor she was a dedicated participant and leader in International Neighbors, loosely affiliated with the University of Michigan. In Santa Barbara, Holly participated for two decades as a volunteer with UC Santa Barbara’s Office of International Student Services, working with visiting scholars from a number of countries mainly in one-on-one sessions of English as a Second Language (ESL). Her ESL activities went well beyond formal settings, as she acted as a local tour guide, practical advisor, and hostess in her home. Although Holly had brief stints of formal classroom teaching at the University of Michigan and Santa Barbara City College, her true love and dedication lay on the informal side.
She loved traveling, adventures, and novelty. Along with her husband, and often with their children in tow, she visited all but a handful of the United States. She was remarkably adept at adopting to living in temporary situations, occasioned in part by her husband’s academic life. That meant stays of anywhere from four months to a year in Eugene, OR; Palo Alto, Santa Barbara, and, Santa Monica, CA; Oisterwijk and Wassenaar in the Netherlands; and Scottsdale, AZ.
Her international travels took her to visits in several European and Asian nations. As she became a seasoned traveler she undertook some of these trips solo, including being the single passenger on a launch as it meandered along a river in Thailand. Among the more unusual family trips, spurred on by Holly’s initiative, was an extended Pacific Ocean voyage, enabled only by what was ruefully referred to in the family as “steerage accommodations.”
Holly introduced her family to the world of camping, in particular traveling by camping, which became a common mode of vacationing and cross-country journeys. Two long expeditions, held together by Holly’s astute management of domestic needs, stand out. One was attending Montreal’s Expo in 1967 and then working their rain-drenched way around Canada’s Gaspe Peninsula. A second expedition a few years later consisted of exploring the nooks and crannies of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, replete with ferry rides, fjords, and Legoland!
One of Holly’s trips brought together in memorable fashion her volunteer work with international guests and her love of travel and adventure. While still recovering from major surgery in 1987 she persuaded her husband that they should take a long break and visit China, Japan, and South Korea. At virtually all of their major stopping off points they were warmly greeted and hosted by one or more of her former student-friends. They were just as thrilled and gratified as was she, a fitting illustration of her devotion and interests..
Holly was preceded in death by her sister, Nancy Corsino. She is survived by her husband, Kent, sons Steven and Larkin Jennings, daughter Cynthia Cordova, and three grandchildren—Angelica and Kevin Jennings, and Brendon Cordova.
The family wishes to acknowledge the care and assistance provided by VNA Health of Santa Barbara, Love & Care of Santa Barbara, Serenity House hospice, the Neptune Society, and Drs. Timothy Rodgers and Brittany Bryan.
