Bryan Marshall
“It just doesn’t make any sense.”
That is how Jennifer West described the notion that she will be flying to Arizona on Sunday to spend four pampered days alongside Oprah Winfrey.
“I am really, really excited that I am going,” said the Eastern Kentucky University correctional and juvenile justice studies student. “I still can’t even believe it.”
A Greenville native who turns 24 on Monday, West was selected as one of 50 women in America to spend Sunday through Wednesday with Winfrey and her friend, Gayle King, at the Miraval Resort in Tucson, Ariz.
She was chosen out of thousands of entries in a “Live Your Best Life” contest sponsored by “O: The Oprah Magazine.”
What made her selection even more befuddling to West, who has been attempting to get her life back on track since her husband, Theodore “Coty” West, was killed in November by a roadside bomb in Iraq, was the fact that she had never heard of the contest before last week.
After reading about the tragedy West suffered with the loss of her husband, Sarah Hall, deputy executive director in the state Office of Legal Services, decided to do what little she could for a complete stranger.
The 54-year-old entered the magazine’s contest hoping she could win it for the woman she said looks like her own daughter, Holly Hernandez, a member of the Army ROTC program at the University of North Carolina.
“I thought it would be a nice thing if I entered the contest and I would give (the prize) to Jennifer West, a total stranger who I had never met,” Hall said. “It would not only help to give her a new beginning due to this horrible loss, but also in remembrance of her husband who gave his life for our freedom.”
“I can’t bring Coty West back,” she said. “I wish I could, but I felt like maybe I could do something for his wife.”
Hall received a call Feb. 18 from the magazine, telling her that her entry was one of 150 finalists in the contest and several questions still needed to be answered via e-mail before the 50 winners were chosen.
With the Winfrey representatives wanting West to reply to the questions herself, Hall finally had to let her in on the plan.
After several days of trying to track West’s phone number down, Hall was able to reach her and tell her about the contest.
“I just kind of sat there,” she said about receiving the phone call. “I was kind of shocked. I didn’t know what to say to her.”
Initially, West said midterm exams at EKU would hinder her ability to go on the trip, but arrangements eventually were worked out.
It became official on Monday that West would be spending time in the desert with Winfrey, King and her magazine’s other frequent contributors, including Dr. Mehment Oz and Martha Beck.
The representatives also mentioned a desire to possibly do an episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” about West’s story, along with a possible article in “O” magazine, Hall said.
“In Coty’s letter that was read at the funeral, he said he wanted to make a difference in the world by keeping our world safe,” Hall said. “So, I just tried to do a little bit of something that maybe we can all do. I never thought my entry would win. It’s just a once-in-a-lifetime thing. So many women want to go on this spa trip every year.”
“The show knows that (West’s) birthday is on Monday and Oprah is going to give her a great, big birthday party,” she said. “Then, she is going to get to go horseback riding with Oprah and Gayle, get spa treatments, talk to the fitness people and have a hair makeover.”
Although she does not get to watch the show a lot with college duties taking up most of her time, West said she did grow up watching Winfrey.
“I definitely didn’t expect to be spending my birthday this way,” she said.
“This is going to give me a break so that I can kind of get away and step outside and look back and see what I need to be doing (in life),” West said. “I haven’t gotten a chance to really take a break from anything yet. So, I think this will give me that break I need so I can come back twice as strong.”
West finally was able to meet Hall in person Wednesday in Frankfort when the state House of Representatives honored the families of soldiers who have been lost in the Iraq War.
West also was named an honorary Kentucky Colonel and was given framed Kentucky Colonel certificates, along with an “Unbridled Spirit” sweatshirt embroidered with names on the back, to give to Winfrey and King during her trip.
“Considering her loss, this is a new beginning,” Hall said. “It’s just a good thing for her. I imagine her and I will be lifelong friends. We have a real connection now. She’s just a lovely young lady. I hope this will make a difference in her life.”
As can be imagined, the past few months without her husband have been difficult, but West said she has received tremendous support.
“I am doing OK,” she said. “I am very, very stressed. I am trying to get caught up in school to graduate in May and try to take care of my husband’s affairs.”
“Everyone has been wonderful,” West said. “All of the teachers and faculty at Eastern have been great about letting me complete everything I’ve missed and let me work around things so I can go and do this. At the funeral, there were thousands of people there. I’ve gotten cards and letters from all over the country. I wouldn’t be able to get through it without the support of the people of this area.”
