Jigger

I’ve been thinking a lot about my mother lately, and perhaps it’s due to the fact her first grandchild is engaged and we are starting to research wedding venues. Or perhaps little things pop up in my mind, or even physically, that lead me to remenisce about her life as a wife, a mother, a widow, and then a journalist…in that order.

Mom with my then-little kids at a youth hockey game

So when I read about the recent passing of her dear friend, Anne “Jigger” Brohmann Roth, it left me flooded with memories of this remarkable woman, and I had to share a little story.  I will be calling her Jigger throughout the story because that is the only name I’ve ever known!

First, Jigger was a woman way ahead of her time. By the early 1980s, she had already written numerous stories and obituaries for the Herald-Journal, yet after a health issue, decided to up and relocate to China. Yes, China! Very few women would ever consider making such an undaunted journey, but Jigger was not your typical woman.

Anne “Jigger” Brohmann Roth…her father was A. Brohmann Roth, a journalist as well!

Jigger understood she needed a replacement for her society column before she embarked on her new life chapter.  In the mid-1980s, Jigger reached out to my mother, a then 50-something, empty-nester and recently widowed.  Mom was not doing the amount of writing she had previously done as a volunteer for my Fayetteville-Manlius High School musicals and a community theater group called Shattuck-Nye Productions, so she had the time.

Mom called me – and my sister and brother right away, having her doubts, but we all responded, “Go for it!”  Her added encouragement from Jigger, not to mention Jigger’s independent, forward-thinking attitude was also an inspiration for Mom to say “Yes.”

Fast forward to September 16, 1986…when my mom, Jackie Coley, began writing for The Syracuse Newspapers and gave Jigger’s past society column a bit of a re-boot, shifting to Central New York charities holding fundraisers.  Called The Social Notebook, the column became Mom’s written mission to help as many not-for-profit organizations as possible through educating readers about what they stood for. 

Jackie was always grateful for Jigger’s phone call, and for 22 years, my siblings and I would listen to her rave about her new career and lease on life through The Social Notebook.  For that, we are truly grateful for Jigger and her special friendship with Jackie. 

May God Bless Jigger and her wonderful life.