Jenifer Sparrow said she goes about her day in much the same way as everyone else. The difference is that she is married to Mayor Greg Sparrow.

Originally from Niles, Sparrow first came to DeKalb when she attended NIU. She remained in DeKalb to teach, and after marrying Greg Sparrow, they decided to make DeKalb their home.

Sparrow currently is a first-grade teacher at Lincoln School in Rochelle. She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from NIU, as well as a master’s degree in learning disabilities. She said she taught special education for 18 years.

The Sparrows will be married for 23 years this July. She said they met when a friend introduced them at NIU, but they did not begin dating for another five years.

Now they have two sons, one still in high school and the other a senior at the Illinois Institute of Art. Neither son is interested in following in either parents’ footsteps. The younger Sparrow is interested in screenwriting. The senior Sparrow is studying computer animation.

“Greg has a lot of things he is asked to attend, and I try to go to them,” Jenifer Sparrow said, but she added this was hard to do when their children were young.

Now that her youngest son is in high school, she spends a lot of time driving him from place to place, or attending various activities he is involved in, making it difficult for her to attend many social functions she is invited to with the mayor.

She also has been offered posts on city boards by her husband, but has declined because of her children and involvement in other organizations.

Jenifer Sparrow is on the Community Child Care Board. She said the organization spans several counties and helps people who are looking for child care through such measures as training and funding day care facilities.

She is also a member of Pi Lambda Theta, which she characterized as an “honorary education sorority,” which meets three or four times a year.

Sparrow said her husband’s position as mayor does have its effects on the family, yet she thinks he has a positive impact on DeKalb.