Jessica A. Cole-Hodgkinson

First off, in the spirit of full disclosure, I confess that I am not a native Montanan – I’m an Oregon transplant.  (When football season rolls around, I don’t argue Griz or Cats – I just sit back and remind everyone I’m a Duck… or at least, I used to.  Then, Marcus Mariota graduated...  but, I digress.)I am the only child of a single working mom.  I was born in San Francisco, and we moved to the Willamette Valley in Oregon when I was about 9 years old.  I grew up out in the country where ageing hippies (including some of the original Merry Pranksters) live beside old school farmers and ranchers.  From both, I learned lessons about self-sufficiency that I still rely on today. After high school, I moved to Washington and married a man in the Air Force.  When he got orders for Okinawa, Japan, I wasn’t sure I would like it – four years later, I didn’t want to leave. I was always horse crazy, but we couldn’t afford one when I was growing up – I’ve been making up for that ever since.  Today, I have two slightly lunatic retirees and a ginormous warmblood named Steve.  Don’t ask about him unless you’re prepared to look at pictures – I’m ridiculously fond of him.I have a variety of other animals – all strays or adoptees.  My Lincoln – who came out of a box of free puppies at Safeway – often comes to the office with me because legal research is a lot more fun when there’s a big old head lying across your feet.