Jenny Wolek was originated by actress Katherine Glass in June 1975 and introduced as a novitiatenun preparing to take her final vows. Instead, she falls in love with Jewish, blue-collar Tim Siegel. When Jenny announces she is leaving the Order to marry Tim, her cousin Vince "Vinny" Wolek heatedly objects, complaining of how Tim is "stealing Jenny from the church". A fist fight ensues, leading Vinny to aggravate in Tim a latent brain injury, which results in his being taken to the hospital in critical condition. Jenny marries Tim on his deathbed April 5, 1976, and she remains resentful toward Vinny for the duration of his appearance on the serial.
No longer planning to become a nun, Jenny takes a secretarial job with Dr. Will Vernon in 1976. Jenny grows enamored with Dr. Vernon but begins dating his son Brad in 1977. The two marry on the episode aired January 3, 1978. Soon after marrying, Jenny learns Brad is a philanderer and the two suffer a rocky marriage. Actress Brynn Thayer, a fan of Katherine Glass' Jenny, assumed the role in August 1978 amid a contract dispute between Glass and ABC Daytime. Jenny becomes pregnant into 1979 and looks forward to motherhood. But the stress of a perpetually unfaithful Brad and learning he had raped her sister, Karen, causes Jenny to blackout, go into premature labor, and give birth stillborn daughter [|Mary Vernon] in November. Not told her child was dead in the morgue instead of the maternity ward, misguided sister Karen conspires in a plot with ex-boyfriend-con man Marco Dane to switch dead Mary with a live newborn.
Mary Vernon and Peter
Jenny rears a child born during Jenny's delivery to Karen's former fellow prostitutes, Katrina Karr. She then divorces Brad, marrying Dr. Peter JanssenSeptember 2, 1981. She is soon widowed for a second time when Peter is killed in a car accident in May 1982. Only a short time after losing her husband Peter, Jenny learns the truth about Karen's baby switch and makes the wrenching decision to give the child back to Katrina. Unknown to Jenny and Katrina, both of their children were fathered by Brad.
Jenny next engages in a relationship with David "David Renaldi" Reynolds, the former lover of Dr. Dorian Lord and father to Dorian's daughter, Cassie. Despite being married to Herb Callison at the time, Dorian does her best to split up Jenny and David. After finally getting Dorian to relent, Jenny and David wed June 1, 1984. She soon becomes worrisome upon learning David to be a secret agent investigating communist espionage activity for the American government. Jenny last appears onscreen making amends with cousin Larry and ex-husband Brad before relocating to Switzerland with David in May 1986. David Renaldi returns to Llanview in 1997, divulging to Dorian that Jenny was assumed dead in Switzerland from an avalanche.
Reception
Jenny Wolek was a part of a move by new head writerGordon Russell in 1975 to incorporate younger talent into the cast following the 1973 onscreen death of Meredith Lord, played by Lynn Benesch. Katherine Glass garnered much fanfare and controversy as one-half of soap opera's first teen and interfaith supercouple alongside Tom Berenger. Glass' Jenny had particular resonance with younger viewers who identified with the Wolek heroine. Brynn Thayer's work as a Jenny learning her daughter, Mary Vernon, was stillborn and switched soon after birth with the child she raised for two years, Kristine Karr, is considered one of OLTLs most tragic and riveting performances.
