BREMEN — Jessica Feathers was full of love.
She loved teaching.
She loved sports.
She loved listening.
She loved hot tamales.
Feathers, more than anything though, loved her family.
It’s also completely obvious that they loved her too, as did so many people in the Bremen community.
Feathers, known for her smile and warm spirit, passed away on Feb. 19 after a courageous six-year battle with breast cancer at just 43 years old.
Feathers, a former standout basketball player at New Prairie High School, left behind four amazing daughters in Mackenzie (19), Teagan (17), Skylee (16) and Emery (14) and her husband of 21 years, Jason.
The Feathers family, including standout Bremen High School athletes Teagan and Skylee, are still trying to navigate their way through the loss of someone so near and dear to their hearts.
“I miss just talking to her a lot,” said Skylee. “I would go talk to her after sports and definitely a lot about boys too. She always listened and she always understood. She was very positive, strong, joyful and very faithful.”
Junior Teagan and sophomore Skylee helped the Bremen girls track team win the INSC meet title for the second straight year May 13. Teagan won the pole vault, placed third in the high jump and sixth in the 100 hurdles. Skylee was first in the high jump and fifth in the 300 hurdles.
A shot to remember
Teagan and Skylee were also key parts of a Bremen girls basketball team that went 24-3 this past season under coach Alex Robinson. Teagan averaged 6.1 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds per game as the only underclassmen starter, while Skylee averaged 6.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as a key reserve.
The pair played in the Class 2A semi-state at Frankfort High School Feb. 21, just two days after their mother passed away at home after being in hospice care since the end of December.
“Our mom told us she wanted us to keep playing no matter what,” said Teagan of the semi-state. “We knew we were a big part of the team and we could not leave them. We knew she was still watching us.”
“No matter what happened, it was not going to stop us from playing,” added Skylee. “Our mom told us she wanted us to play.”
Eliana Grubbs, the top scorer and one of four senior starters, praised her teammates.
“I’m just super thankful for them,” said Grubbs of the Feathers sisters following the semi-state semifinal game. “They’re tough. They were at practice yesterday. She (their mother) wanted them to play. We are all there for them and they are both there for us. We just all came together.”
Teagan made the shot of her high school career, her first-ever 3-pointer, in the semi-state. She had eight points and 13 rebounds as No. 7 Bremen upset No. 6 Lapel 60-43 in the semifinal contest. Skylee, a key reserve, had six points and seven rebounds in the win.
Teagan was 1-of-11 from 3-point land on the season.
“That 3-pointer was for my mom,” explained Teagan. “It was awesome. I was so happy. I had wanted to make one for her forever. I took like seven of them the game before and missed all of them. The first one I tried during the season hit the top of the backboard. But, I’ll talk about the one I made forever.”
Jason Feathers, who was on the Bremen basketball team in 1999 as a sophomore that won sectional and regional championships, was in the stands at the semi-state to see the amazing shot.
“I was just overwhelmed with everything,” said Jason of the moment when Teagan hit the 3-pointer. “I was just so happy for her to make it. It made me think too that she (Jessica) might be watching.”
The Lions finished a 24-3 season with a 66-57 loss to No. 12 Oak Hill in the semi-state title game to fall just one win short of making it to the state finals. Skylee scored 10 points and Teagan four in the final game of the season.
SUBHEAD
Jessica, the former Jessica Vaundry, loved to travel and camp with her family and friends and loved the holidays. She also loved teaching after playing basketball at Ancilla College and getting her elementary education degree from IUSB. The 2001 New Prairie High School graduate, who played basketball for coach Dan Shead, taught in the New Prairie school system, at Hebrew Day School in South Bend and then at Bremen Elementary School. She also coached track, summer league softball and girls basketball at BHS, including on the staff of the 2020 team that won a sectional title.
“She always wanted to try and help people,” said Jason of his wife. “She always wanted to listen and to talk to people. As a teacher, she loved the students who were labeled as troublemakers by others. She wanted to help them. I grew up here in Bremen and she probably knew more people than I do here.”
Skylee has some fond memories of her mother.
“Back in the fall, I was not playing a sport so I would sit in her room and we would watch my sister’s games,” recalled Skylee. “I remember us watching the Golden Bachelor together too and me painting her toenails. I also remember in like the third grade we went out to eat and then to the theater to watch a movie and we were all alone there together.”
Teagan was the star player for the Bremen volleyball team last fall for coach Deanna Wisler. She powered down a team-high 339 kills to lead her team to a 24-9 record.
“Our mom always encouraged us to try sports and extracurricular things,” Teagan said. “She was tough, really strong, Godly and kind to everyone. I would be like, ‘Come on mom, be a little mean sometimes!”
Emery, whose passion is being a member of the color guard at Bremen, said her mom was always there.
“My mom was just a good helper with everything,” said Emery, fighting through tears. “She was always there to help, no matter what it was with. I loved when I was younger just going to her classroom and hanging out there with her.”
Emery is very accomplished in the color guard as she has been competing with the high school guard since her seventh grade year.
Jason says that his family has tried to keep a sense of normalcy these past few months.
“We try to keep everything as normal as we can,” said Jason. “We’re a family of humor, so we do a lot of laughing, most of it at Teagan. We did not want it to happen, but we were ready for it. The girls have all done well, better than me I think.
“We still act like she (Jessica) is still here. I’m like don’t tell mom when we go to do something sometimes.”
The Feathers family celebrated Mother’s Day May 10 by going to church, out to eat and then to a movie. They also visited their mother at her final resting place at the Bremen Cemetery.
“My mom loved hot tamales, and we take her some every time that we go to the cemetery,” remarked Teagan. “We did that on Mother’s Day.”
“I was OK until we went to the cemetery, and then I cried there,” related Skylee.
Jason, a 2001 BHS graduate, said that his wife was many things to everyone.
“She was brave, strong, talkative and positive,” said Jason.
Teagan, who said she likes to listen to music to help her cope, shared this about her mother.
“Our mom would always leave notes on our lockers at school with messages and pictures,” recounted Teagan. “At the end, the notes would always say love you bunches.”
That tells you all you need to know about the love of Jessica Feathers.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Feathers family remembers loving mother, wife with fondness
Reporting by Scott Davidson, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
