The United Way of West Tennessee hosted 1,025 guests to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the First Ladies Luncheon at the Jackson Fairgrounds Thursday.
As is customary, companies from the West Tennessee counties served by the United Way lavishly decorated each table with themes that varied from plant life to elegant gold and feathers.
This year’s luncheon required 126 tables to accommodate the record number of guests who welcomed the keynote speaker, one with West Tennessee roots.
Meg Kinnard is the only grandchild of late 8th District U.S. Rep. Ed Jones (1912–1999), and his late wife, Llewellyn. Rep. Jones served as commissioner of agriculture for the state of Tennessee, before serving 20 years in congress, from 1969 until 1989.
Kinnard credits female persuasion with getting her grandfather’s career off the ground. “My grandmother is the one who encouraged him to attend UT Martin, and his career began,” she said.
She has remained connected with UT Martin, keeping the Ed Jones legacy alive through her support of the special collections of the Paul Meek Library, which houses Jones’ congressional papers.
As a college student and in her career, Kinnard, 42, has been no stranger to politics, having interned in the nation’s capital, and later at The Washington Post. To date, she has enjoyed an 18-year career with the Associated Press, where she works as a national politics reporter.
In 2021, she was diagnosed with Stage 3C inflammatory breast cancer after a four-year journey on a medical roller coaster of misdiagnoses. Kinnard finally sought a second opinion at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, which ironically bears the name of a Jackson, Tennessee, native.
While she still has to return to Houston periodically for checkups, she is now cancer-free and is committed to sending the message to others to never hesitate to get a second opinion. Kinnard also urges everyone to be their own best health advocate, and urges women to never neglect to have mammograms or conduct self-examinations.
Kinnard makes her home in South Carolina with her husband, Geoffrey, and three children.
