I haven’t written a new blog post in 2025 yet because I’m taking a break from that to work on some other goals of mine right now. But I wrote something for the presentation of the Jennifer Servo Memorial Award at Dean Stone night at the Journalism School in Missoula, Montana, last weekend. It was the 23rd time we’ve given out this award to a promising journalist since we started the award after my sister was murdered in 2002. Her case remains unsolved to this day. I wanted to share what I wrote for that occasion.
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My husband Hank and I are happy to be here tonight to present the Jennifer Servo Memorial Award. But before I move on to the presentation, I did want to bring you up to speed on my sister’s case. Last year when I was here to present the award, I shared some news that finally, after all this time, there had been some progress on my sister’s unsolved murder. Her case had been featured on the show Cold Justice about a year ago, and at this time last year, I shared with you that investigators believed that there would be an arrest in her case very soon. Well, here we are an entire year later, and I can report to you that no such arrest has been made. I talked to detectives yesterday, and while they are still actively working on her case, they are not ready to make an arrest yet. The wheels of justice turn very slowly. So, I wanted to apologize for getting everyone’s hopes up last year. My hopes were up too. I was so excited to report the good news I thought I had, that I may have shared that information prematurely, which I’m sure is something you all are taught NOT to do very early in your journalism classes. A rookie mistake. Please forgive me, but I promise to let you know as soon as I do, when there is something certain to report on her case.
So, now we are here to present the Jennifer Servo award for the 23rd time. Twenty-three is a significant number. My sister’s birthday is September 23rd. She was killed just seven days before her 23rd birthday in 2002. This year is significant because it’s an unfortunate milestone. She’s been gone for the same amount of time that she was here on this earth with us.
A lot has happened in 23 years. My daughter was here in a baby carrier for her first visit to Dean Stone in 2003. Now she is almost 23 years old and is about to graduate with her teaching certificate in California. She’s following in her mom and stepdad’s footsteps and becoming an educator, a middle or high school English teacher, just like her mom.
I brought this old phone today to represent how much has changed in the world since 2002. This was the phone that was on my sister’s desk at her first post-college “real job” as a news reporter at KRBC9 in Abilene, Texas. When we went down to gather her things after she was killed, her colleagues at the news station had left everything on her desk exactly as she had left it. There was a partially finished diet coke, a pair of sunglasses, a desk calendar with so many things still left to do, pictures of her family and friends, a Rosie the Riveter “We Can Do It” post card hanging on the wall next to her desk, an old boxy computer, and this was the phone on her desk. She had put her name on the front of it with a sticky label, and her boss at the station saw me starting to peel the label off the phone. At that time, I wanted everything that she had touched. He stopped me and unplugged the phone from the wall, wrapped up the cord without a word, and put the entire phone in the box that I was packing up. That was so nice of him. Now it is a memento of that time and of my sister. So much has changed since the days she used this phone at her first job. Here are a few of them.
- Paychecks have changed (but still not enough) – Jen moved to Abilene to take her first journalism job and would be paid seven dollars and change an hour.
- Phone Technology – Jen owned a flip phone at the time she died. It was not a smart phone and had no internet access.
- Social Media – Jen died without a social media presence because it didn’t exist yet. No Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube…. even one of the first social media platforms, one called “My Space” didn’t start until 2003.
- Netflix – In 2002 Netflix was still sending DVDs through the mail, and you would have to send them back when you finished watching them.
- Spotify didn’t exist. My sister spent hours downloading music from places like “Napster” from the internet and then burning them onto CDs. She made a five-part series of CDs this way. She called them Jen’s Car Jam, Jen’s Rock Mix, Jen’s Mix 1, Jen’s Elton John and Country, Jen’s Car Jam 4 – Sinatra and Friends, and Jen’s Abilene Car Jam. She played them all over and over on her car’s CD player on her drive with our mom from Montana to Abilene.
- Cost of College Has Changed – According to my AI-assisted internet search that I couldn’t have performed in 2002, the cost of in-state tuition at the University of Montana in spring of 2002 when my sister graduated was 2,002 dollars for the semester. Now, in 2025, in-state tuition is 8,546 per semester.
So, a lot has changed since 2002 when my sister graduated from the J-school, but some things have not changed. One of my favorite quotes about the journalism profession is…
“Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.”
-Thomas Jefferson
I have a deep respect for journalists. The world needs you. Our country needs you to tell the stories. To tell the truth. It is such noble and important work. I’m proud of all of you. You started your college education in the middle of a global pandemic, and some of you are now entering the workforce in what are also challenging, troubling times. Be proud of what you have accomplished. Not everyone made it this far. You are all extraordinary people.
This year we are excited to give our award to a hardworking student who is currently working at KPAX, raising small children, and still getting things done at the J-school. The 23rd Jennifer Servo Memorial Award goes to Robyn Iron.
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I’m always proud to attend the Dean Stone event. I’m proud of my sister and the work she did as a journalist in her short life and career. I’m proud of the ambitious, young students who have worked so hard to learn to tell stories, report the news, and to be determined and driven to do the best work they can even at a time when the journalism profession is under attack. Attending that event every year, seeing the students all dressed up for the special occasion, sharing a meal with the whole group, and celebrating their successes makes me feel so fulfilled, happy, and hopeful. It was another beautiful Dean Stone Night this Year, and I was honored to be a part of it in memory of the most important journalist in my heart who will never be forgotten.
