Years ago Jenny was running full speed across the upper loft of the haymow toward her special escape route. A competitive game of tag had her cousin right on her heels. Jenny grabbed her usual wooden cross beam swinging her body out over the horse stall thirty feet below. Her foot landed on the next beam down as planned, to begin her decent and escape. Problem!

She was still wearing her church shoes instead of her trusty play shoes. Instead of sliding down the beam at a controlled pace, her foot slid right off, she lost her grip, and launched into the open air falling to the cement floor below flat on her back. 

Stars everywhere mixed with yelling voices, she tried to get up and make it to the house. Find out how this story ends in her next book.

Mischief could easily be Jenny’s middle name… In Indiana they said she had a bit of an ornery streak...  Either way, despite struggling in school with learning disabilities, dyslexia, and constant muscle pain Jenny was encouraged to live life to its fullest, focusing not on her struggles but on what she could do. Jenny lived life full speed, determined to explore every possible trail, looking for the next adventure.

​In 1970 with Jenny’s heart deeply rooted in the rich soil of Indiana farm life, her family moved to Tucson, Arizona. She struggled in planting new roots in the dry Tucson desert without her horses and extended family.

Jennifer Laurie (Settlemyre) Beauchamp

About the Author

"Roots Tied Down"

Jennifer Laurie Beauchamp

In 1979 a handsome surfer from Hawaii got caught up in a really big wave off the North Shore of Oahu. He washed up on the Arizona desert floor, soon to meet the woman of his dreams. Sid Beauchamp came with his seven-year-old daughter Shannon, shorts, flip flops, and a surfboard. They married in 1980, adding a surfboard to Jennifer’s items which kept her feeling close to her roots. She had her great grandfather’s corn-sheller in the living room standing next to an old roll-top desk from the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Logansport, Indiana, where her great grandfathers worked in their younger years.  

Sid and Jennifer rejoiced two years later when their son, Shane was added to the mix of barn shovels, pitchforks and surfboards in a home they called “The Beauchamp Cabana,” with windows facing the pool and a lush green backyard.  Jennifer says, “It’s how you keep a surfer happy and living in a desert for over 40 years.” Today (2022) you will find that surfer being pulled behind a boat riding the waves on Lake Norman, North Carolina.

Son Shane, married wife Sarah in 2013 and moved back to her home state of North Carolina.  Grandchildren: Faith a junior in High School focus on theater.  Logan in 8th grade focus on sports.  

Stepdaughter, Shannon, lives in California. Granddaughters: Alex married Joe Lane on Sid and Jennifer's 41st wedding anniversary, Cassidy a beauty consultant. Grandsons: Kainoa in college and working and Makana finishing up with High school. 

The grandchildren’s visits to once a year inspired her to start translating her memoirs and crazy adventures into her first children’s book, "Mischief on the Farm". Her passion was to share the simple, fun life she enjoyed with her sister Joy, and brother Jay exploring the farm with wild imaginations twisted with streaks of orneriness.
 
Jennifer's second book "Whose Forest Is It?" was co-written with her brother Jay after he enjoyed a beautiful bike ride on Hunting Island, South Carolina.

Third book "Sheller and Tacky the Cactus Wren" A one hundred-year-old corn sheller and a perky little cactus wren wander through six generations on a mid-western farm.

Jennifer has finished two of her "Roots Tied Down" books that include Ancestry research and family stories including great grandparents and more. Two more are in different stages of completion as she continues to research the other branches of the family.  "Keep Writing".

Yes, Grandma really did do that.