Jill Amanda Westmoreland

Jill Amanda Westmoreland was born on July 22, 1964, in Washington DC to Rosamond Walters Westmoreland and James Oscar Westmoreland. When she was six weeks old, Jill sailed with her family on the S.S. Constitution to Palermo, Italy where her father began his career with the Department of State Foreign Service. They spent two years in Italy and two subsequent years in Nairobi, Kenya before returning to the United States when Jill was 5 years old.

Jill spent her teenage years in Maryland, graduating from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in 1982 before attending Wellesley College, as her mother had before her. While there, she majored in Political Science, took on several student leadership roles, and was a student representative to the Board of Trustees. Jill also developed a strong feminist identity reading and sharing writers like Alice Walker, Carol Gilligan, Toni Morrison, and many others. Friends and family recall her focus on personal connections and friendships, her spiked hair and leather-jacketed motorcycle-riding days, and her love for Irish music like The Chieftains and U2.

After graduating from Wellesley College in 1986, Jill lived with her college friends in Somerville, Massachusetts, for several years before moving to Los Angeles. While in LA, Jill was able to expand her appreciation for visual art by assisting her mother in her art conservation business. It included working on a team cleaning the smoke-damaged murals at the Los Angeles Public Library following its historic fire. She and her mother had the unique opportunity to visit Italy together and see the Sistine Chapel ceiling from the top of the scaffolding while it was being restored.

Jill attended George Washington University Law School, where she had several summer internships: the Supreme Court, as a correspondent for NPR public radio, ACLU, and with the US Attorney’s office in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from law school in 1994, she went on to work at Loeb and Loeb in New York City, specializing in trademark infringement, copyright law, and intellectual property law. Jill lived in Manhattan for 8 years. She went to the opera and museums, had dinner parties, and nurtured close connections with friends. During this period, Jill traveled extensively throughout Europe visiting Ireland, England, Greece, Italy, and France.

In 2000 while visiting friends for the weekend on a small, remote island off the Maine coast, Jill met her future husband, Parker John Shanahan, who was a close college friend of her sister’s then boyfriend, now husband, Andy Schiller. In 2002, Jill and Parker married and moved to their future home in Raleigh. Four years later, Jill gave birth to their daughter, Grace Megan. Jill developed close connections and friendships with parents at Grace’s school at the Cary Academy in Raleigh.

Jill’s family loved spending summers in South Yarmouth on Cape Cod and many of their fondest memories are in that house by the water. Jill fully embraced her love of baking during those summers. Her peach pies and blueberry cobblers were the stuff of legend.

After her retirement in 2019, Jill wrote and self-published a gazette called The Marlowe Record, featuring articles of local interest, which she distributed to 140 residences in the North Hills neighborhood of Raleigh. Jill was always looking for ways to help people connect with each other, and to strengthen their feelings of community.

Jill was diagnosed with leukemia at the end of March 2021. Over four years Jill demonstrated true courage and resilience, driven by the determination to be there for her daughter Grace. While Jill struggled through nine different treatments, she remained positive and hopeful. She was always grateful to her friends, family, and her care team at the University of North Carolina Cancer Hospital. Jill held on to life so that she could watch Grace graduate from high school and start at Wellesley College last August. Jill’s sheer determination allowed her to be present and joyful for these important milestones in her daughter’s life. After battling the disease for four years, Jill passed away peacefully at her home in Raleigh surrounded by her family on March 21, 2025.

Jill is survived by her husband, Parker Shanahan, her daughter Grace Westmoreland, her step-daughter Caitlyn Shanahan and her step-son Tate Shanahan, her mother Rosamond Westmoreland, her sister Susan Westmoreland, her brother-in-law Andrew Schiller, their children Sarah and Max Schiller, her cousins Jason and Tim Walters and Tim’s wife Jennier and their two sons, Parker’s brother and sister-in-law Mark and Jill Shanahan and their children, Mark, Allyson, and John.

The family wishes to express their sincere gratitude to the incredible care team at UNC Cancer Hospital for their loving care, comfort, and support for Jill and her family over her four years of treatment. Jill will be missed by all who knew and loved her.

Donations may be made in Jill’s memory at one of Jill’s favorite charities below:

1. Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Nairobi, Kenya – Orphan elephant program

https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/donate/honour

2. Caring Gift Foundation, Cary, NC – Help cancer patients meet their basic needs and stay in treatment.

Caring Community Foundation, PO Box 1364, Cary, NC 27512

https://www.caringcommunityfoundation.org/donate

3. CAMFED, San Francisco, CA – Campaign for female education

https://camfed.org/us/who-we-are/?form=FUNPBGFYTYK