Jill Annemarie Osborne, 26, was born at the Beaufort Naval Hospital in South Carolina. Her father, James, was a retired Marine Corps drill instructor, and her mother, Annemarie, was a property appraiser who operated her own business out of their home.
Jill's two older brothers spent hours with their father on physical fitness and marksmanship drills, preparing to join the Marine Corps after high school. They often practiced their hand-to-hand combat maneuvers on their timid little sister and used her for target practice with their BB guns until Jill fled to her bedroom and locked herself in.
In elementary school, Jill was a good student but hardly performed to her potential. She completed just enough homework to make a passing grade, but she still tested well due to her near-photographic memory. Jill was not social and had two close girlfriends, both older students, who also enjoyed reading above all else.
Jill graduated from high school with a 3.3 GPA and intended to keep her job at a retail chain store, hoping to move into a supervisory position. However, her parents insisted that she leave home to attend a university, believing that the experience would build character and help Jill become more independent.
Uninterested in pursuing a bachelor's degree, Jill enrolled at Central Carolina Technical College in Sumter, where she earned an Administrative Support diploma. She spent two years bouncing from job to job, trying to find a good fit, until the Ole Miss English Department hired her to be their Administrative Assistant four years ago.
Her supervisor, Carol Fitch, immediately took the shy new hire under her wing, and the two soon became fast friends. Carol was not only Jill's mentor but also her protector against the challenges of working in academia as a non-academic.
Jill's work was instrumental in planning this year's Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. In particular, she was responsible for preparing the PowerPoint presentation created by Professor Jake Hemphill and Faulkner expert Dr. Andrew Carlson. Professor Douglas Reed continually interrupted her work on conference tasks, demanding that she run his personal errands with total disregard for her workload.
Professor Reed previously filed a formal complaint against Jill with the Department Chair, Dan Johnson, citing her incompetence, so she complied with Reed's demands to avoid any additional black marks on her record.
