Jill Tracy Jacobs and Joe Biden Marriage Profile

The long lasting marriage of Jill and Vice President Joe Biden started with including Joe's two sons in their wedding ceremony.

Here is information about how Jill and Joe met, their wedding, and more.

News Updates:

01/20/09: Joe Biden became Vice President of the United States.

11/04/08: Joe Biden became Vice President-elect Joe Biden in the historic election of President-elect Barack Obama.

Election Night PDA

Born:

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr: November 20, 1942 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Jill Tracy Jacobs: Abt. 1951 in Hammonton, New Jersey. Jill grew up in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.

Joe and Jill were introduced to one another in 1975 by Joe's brother while Jill was at college.

"I was a senior, and I had been dating guys in jeans and clogs and T-shirts and he came to the door and he had on a sport coat and loafers, and I thought, God, this is never going to work, not in a million years. He was nine years older than I am! But we went out to see A Man and a Woman at a movie theater in Philadelphia, and we really hit it off. When we came home ... he shook my hand good night ... I went upstairs and called my mother at 1:00 A.M. and said, 'Mom, I finally met a gentleman.' "

Source: Jonathan Van Meter. "All the vice president's women." Vogue.com. 11/08.

Wedding Proposal:

Joe proposed five times to Jill. "True? I ask. Yes, she says. What did you say the first four times? "I said, 'Not yet. Not yet. Not yet.' Because by that time, of course, I had fallen in love with the boys, and I really felt that this marriage had to work. Because they had lost their mom, and I couldn't have them lose another mother. So I had to be 100 percent sure."
Source: Jonathan Van Meter. "All the vice president's women." Vogue.com. 11/08.

Jill and Joe were married on June 17, 1977 in New York City at the United Nations chapel by a catholic priest.

Joe: "We hadn't told anybody but our family and closest friends ... The ceremony itself was family only -- but that counted nearly forty. Beau and Hunter stood with us at the altar ... We had a big reception lunch at the Sign of the Dove ... since all four of us were getting married -- that we should include the boys on the honeymoon. We got two nice hotel rooms and let the boys pick theirs. That night we went to see Annie on Broadway ..."
Source: Joe Biden, Promises to Keep, page 117.

In addition to the three children that Joe and Jill raised together, they have five grandchildren to enjoy.

• Joseph Robinette "Beau" Biden III: Born in 1969, Beau is a captain in the Delaware National Guard deployed in Iraq and served as the Attorney General for Delaware. His mother is Neilia Hunter.
• Robert Hunter Biden: Born in 1970, Hunter is a lawyer-lobbyist. His mother is Neilia Hunter.
• Naomi "Amy" Christina Biden: Born in 1971, Amy died on December 18, 1972 in an automobile accident. Her mother was Neilia Hunter.
• Ashley Blazer Biden: Born in 1981, Ashley is a social worker. Her mother is Jill Jacobs.

Joe Biden: Vice President of the U.S., practicing attorney, U.S. Senator, adjunct professor on constitutional law, author.

Dr. Jill Biden: School teacher, college English professor. Dr. Biden is currently teaching at Northern Virginia Community College.

Residence:

Aside from their official residence at Number One Observatory Circle on the grounds of the United States Naval Observatory, Joe and Jill have a home in Wilmington, Delaware in the suburb of Greenville. As a Senator, Joe commuted home via Amtrak to Delaware from D.C. since he first took office in 1973. A one-way trip takes about 80 minutes.

Joe about his fifth proposal to Jill: " 'Look, this is the last time I'm asking you. I don't care when we get married. But I want a commitment.' And she said OK. But it took that!"
Source: Jonathan Van Meter. "All the vice president's women." Vogue.com. 11/08.

Jill on how she and Joe Met: "I was at the University of Delaware and I knew Joe's brother. Joe's brother suggested to him that he ask me out. I had met Joe... you know how you go to fund raisers and shake hands? ... When he called me so out of the blue my first thought was 'How did he get my number?'" Joe phone Jill on a Saturday afternoon... and she already had a date. "He asked if I couldn't cancel the other date because he was only in town for one night ... So, I did ... two years later, we were married."
Source: Lynda Waddington, "All in the Family: Jill Biden", IowaIndependent.com, 11/25/2007.

Jill about Joe: "Most people probably don't know that Joe has a romantic side to him."
Source: "Running Together", Time.com

Jill on deciding to marry Joe: Jill thought that "anybody who can love that deeply once can do it again" and believed that "somehow Neilia had sent Jill to me [Joe] ..."
Source: Joe Biden, Promises to Keep, pages 115 and 118.

Jill's advice to her daughter-in-law Hallie: "Make sure you have something for yourself. Make sure you are not always at home, waiting. Make sure you feel independent financially and emotionally."
Source: Jonathan Van Meter. "All the vice president's women." Vogue.com. 11/08.

Jill: "You know, 33 years ago, I accidentally fell in love with Joe Biden," she said, introducing her husband to 1,000 supporters. "And after one night, I knew that Joe Biden had tremendous faith, I knew that he had strong family values and I knew he had such a passion for our country."
Source: Heidi Evans. "From a blind date to second lady, Jill Biden's coming into her own." NYDailyNews.com. 12/28/2008.

Previous Marriages:

Joe has one previous marriage.

• Neilia Hunter Biden: Joe and Neilia were college sweethearts. They met in the Bahamas during spring break when Joe was a junior in college. They married on August 27, 1966 in Skaneateles, New York. Joe still drives the 1967 Corvette that his father gave them as a wedding gift. Neilia died on December 18, 1972 in a car crash.

Joe on meeting Neilia: "When she turned toward me, I could see she had a beautiful smile and gorgeous green eyes."
Source: Joe Biden, Promises to Keep, page 28.

Joe about the accident that killed Neilia and Amy: “I got elected when I was 29, and I got elected November the 7th. And on Dec. 18 of that year, my wife and three kids were Christmas shopping for a Christmas tree. A tractor-trailer, a guy who allegedly —- and I never pursued it —- drank his lunch instead of eating his lunch, broadsided my family and killed my wife instantly, and killed my daughter instantly, and hospitalized my two sons, with what were thought to be at the time permanent, fundamental injuries ... They’re both, thank God, healthy and well.”
Source: Elisabeth Bumiller, "Biden Campaigning With Ease After Hardships", NYT.com, 12/14/2007.

Jill was previously married. "After an aborted attempt at studying fashion merchandising at a junior college in Pennsylvania, where she had been miserable, Jill married a boy she had been dating the summer after high school. The newlyweds decided to attend the University of Delaware together, where Jill majored in English. After a couple of years, the two "grew in different ways," and when Jill was a junior they were divorced."
Source: Jonathan Van Meter. "All the vice president's women." Vogue.com. 11/08.