Jennie Naomi Wheatley was born in 1939, in Tortola, Virgin Islands, where she received her early education. In 1960, she graduated from the Leeward Islands Teachers Training College in Antigua. After obtaining a B.A. (Honors English) and a B.Ed. from Canada's Mt. Allison University in 1970, Wheatley pursued further training in education at England's University of Leeds in 1981. For over forty years, Wheatley has taught primary and secondary schools throughout the Virgin Islands. The educator has served on the English Panel of the Caribbean Examinations Council and was a "marker" for several years. Since its inception in 1990, Wheatley has served on the Board of Governors and as an adjunct lecturer at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College. In 1993, Jennie Wheatley was awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) by Queen Elizabeth II for outstanding contribution to education and culture in the British Virgin Islands. Wheatley has co-authored Comprehension for Caribbean Examinations (Macmillan, 1979); and authored Boysie and The Genips and Other Stories (UNESCO, 1984), and the first edition of Pass It On !!! A Treasury of Virgin Island Tales (WSTD Publishing, 1991). In 1996 Wheatley was the assistant principal for academic affairs at B.V.I. High School and still found time to direct an oral history project "which seeks to record events and activities of the past as seen through the eyes of senior citizens." Jennie Wheatley is married to Charles Wheatley and has three sons, Ludwis, Lloyd, and Leon.