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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Taylor Hildebrand and Valley Gordon Credit: Courtesy Valley Gordon

Names: Taylor Hildebrand and Valley Gordon

Location: Brent’s Drugs

Occupations: JPS teacher (Taylor); Labor and Delivery and NICU nurse at Baptist (Valley)

How Met: On the Sneaky Beans porch, then again at the Old House Depot 4th of July Party where Taylor asked Valley to play stand-up bass on his record, “Nena”

Lived in Jackson: Taylor all his life; Valley most of her life: “I travel-nursed around the country for five years, but always knew I’d come back to Jackson.”

Getting Married: Nov. 10, 2012

JFP Readers Since: The first issue.

Favorite Jackson moment: The CD release party of Taylor’s record, “Nena,” at the War Memorial Building downtown: “So many of our friends helped make Nena happen. … It was incredible to see all of our friends and family together that night.”

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The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.