Jennifer Wortman is pictured at the Arbor House Cafe.

This article is part of the “Meet Your Neighbor Monday” series, highlighting the stories of individuals who make Warren County a special place to live. If you have a suggestion for a person to profile, email jrex@timesobserver.com

During a friendly visit over coffee with Jennifer Wortman, it’s clear this Warren native is all about community.

Wortman grew up in Warren and feels blessed to be a part of such a beautiful place. She did experience some time away during her college years at Penn State, studying journalism, and later found herself working at local places like Blair in their advertising department along with some freelance work.

Oftentimes referred to as “Mrs. Mayor,” a nickname the youth have given her, as opposed to Mayoress, she shared that she and Mayor David Wortman have known each other since their days at Beaty Warren Middle School. They dated for a time and then later reconnected when he came home after the first Gulf War. Gone for a few years during the beginning of their marriage, Mayor Wortman retired from the army and went into the National Guard, ultimately returning home to Warren.

After having five children, she decided to get her master’s degree in ministry. She was able to do that over a five-year span while caring for her children as well helping out with her church, all while Mayor Wortman was on deployment. Their children all loved growing up in Warren and Wortman believes they were blessed to have relationships with their grandparents in which she truly appreciates.

The Wortman children consist of a teacher, an editor/cameraman, a biologist, a chemist and one child at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. While some live in Warren and a few in bigger cities, they are all within a day’s drive, something else to be grateful for.

While her husband served several back to back deployments, Mrs. Wortman admitted it was a tough and busy time, commenting that her “heart goes out to the families who navigate and do that everyday because it’s not easy.”

Fortunately for her, she stated how helpful and important it was for her to have the support of family and also of friends whom she considers to be family. She recalled how one day she prayed for more children, and then she ended up with more than 200 by serving the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Warren.

She has been the Director of Faith Formation for the Warren County Catholic Community for 17 years. Working with all ages, Wortman loves what she does. Her time is spent at St. Joe’s in Warren, as well as overseeing surrounding areas at St. Luke’s in Youngsville and St. Anthony’s in Sheffield.

The rapport she builds was evident as she was greeted by some of her former students at the Arbor House home from college during this holiday season. “The young people I work with have so much potential in them and where they’ve come from and what they offer to the world. There’s such a drive here to be the best that you can be. So much community support in everything that you do. I think it empowers young people.”Wortman remarked she often reminds the young people that generations before them, didn’t grow up with technology. “Literally the world is in the palm of their hand every day and so they know all of what’s going on in the world. All of the stress of the world is in our hands daily. Stress levels are higher, the call to solve problems is higher, and the call to understand how broken the world can be, we can’t escape.”

Youth of today can’t shelter themselves from these things and with her job she can attest that people need people, but also people need God. “It is awesome that our youth comes from a community that supports them in making a difference because the potential is off the charts.” She has learned that we get caught up on what is not here, who is not here, instead of focusing on what is in front of us and giving to them. From that, exponentially the county will grow if we invest in what is here; we can do nothing but grow.”

Comparing Warren to Mayberry, Wortman comments how iconically safe and beautiful Warren is, making it a wonderful place to raise a family. However, she said, “I am struggling with the negativity toward the young people who have come back to Warren and the young families who have moved to Warren, who are really trying to build Warren up and to really make a difference.” Tourism matters, Wortman said, with the river and its draw to the area, the river is what brought in the population to begin this community. It remains a large part of the county along with several other beautiful features of the county. “Warren County consists of incredibly generous people,” she said. “All everyone wants is the best for one another in a close-knit community.”

Sharing they both had a wonderful experience in high school, she spoke of how it is a treasure that many people from their generation are still here because it has been fun to help revitalize Warren with those people, especially for Mayor Wortman.

In this second term for her husband, Mrs. Wortman said that “We have a lot of goals for the next four years.”

Pointing out that there shouldn’t be any divisions, there is no reason for anything to get in the way of making Warren even better. She would like to be more involved with philanthropy in this community as well as to help tackle the homelessness issue. She describes the Allegheny Valley Veterans Center as a rare and phenomenal place where the community has heavily invested, making it a blessing to all.

According to www.stacker.com and www.usafacts.org, Pennsylvania has the fourth-highest veteran populationWarren County is the No. 1 in the state for the highest veteran population. Nearby Venango comes in fourth and McKean County in the 24th spot out of the 50 counties that reported. Wortman believes Warren has produced many military people due to the fact that this has always been a community called to serve.

Being in the military created a huge sense of community, especially for Mayor Wortman. They both see its needs and they wish to give back to the community that raised them.

Service is important to them because they were raised in that. Describing her mother as someone with the gift of hospitality and able to bring people around a table beautifully, has instilled in her the importance of community through gathering, nourishing, loving and caring for people.

She and her husband believe that the revitalization of downtown is bringing a better sense of community. Pointing out that several industries are currently hiring, she agreed that this is making Warren an attractive place for the future graduating classes to stay in Warren.

As an example of how the people here work together, she shared how Lacy Park was built from the generosity of many people and when a sidewalk was needed, United Refinery gave the asphalt and laid it down. “So many of the industries here make it a community where generosity and taking care of one another is what you do.”

When asked what she would say to encourage young families and businesses to locate here, she said the area is “such a beautiful place to be, such a safe place to be and such a nurturing place to raise a family.” Recognizing that it actually can be difficult to break into such a close-knit community, she encourages them to keep searching for your place within the community and to reach out to the mayor to get connected. “This county is full of communities coming together to support each other.”