In her 104 years, Jency Pannell has cultivated a tight-knit family that includes five children, 16 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, 31 great-great-grandchildren and two great-great-great grandchildren.
But as impressive as those numbers are, that doesn’t even begin to quantify her impact on Newark’s African American community known as School Hill, where she has lived for nearly seven decades.
“For people who grew up in this neighborhood, she’s like a matriarch to everybody – not just her own kids, but the ones who were playing in the street playing tag or whatever, said Councilman Emile Brown, who grew up in School Hill. “She would chastise us, just like she was our mother or grandmother. I lost my grandmother, so she’s like a grandmother to all of us.”…