
“North Carolina is our home, and it’s important for us to have our love and our commitment to each other recognized here,” Jane says. “If Jane dies without the state recognizing our marriage, we’ll never be able to have the dignity of other married couples,” Lyn says, “and there is no guarantee that I will be able to recoup the benefits that we would have been entitled to if it had happened during her lifetime.”

They worry what will happen if Jane dies before their marriage is recognized in North Carolina. “They tell us it’s not curable, so we’re just doing everything we can to keep it at bay.” The note was addressed to Margie and Ron and said: 'Your daughter’s with me. After noticing she was missing, Jennifers parents Margie and Ron entered her room and found a note on her bed. “Lyn has been right there beside me the whole time,” Jane says. On February 10, 1987, 15-year-old Jennifer Lynn Pandos vanished from her home in Williamsburg, Virginia. One year later, Jane was diagnosed with breast cancer, and although she is undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments, the cancer has spread to a Stage IV diagnosis. In 2011 they were legally married in the District of Columbia. Tracy is an American diplomat who is the United States ambassador to Russia, serving since January 2023.

Their careers have taken them many places together, including a two and a half year stint in Moldova where Lyn worked for the Peace Corps, before they moved permanently to Greensboro in 2008. It is now more popular as a middle name than as a first name. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 2,640 (fall 2021), its setting is suburban, and the campus size is 123 acres. Jane and Lyn met in 1991 and have been in a stable, loving relationship for more than 20 years. Lynn University is a private institution that was founded in 1962.
