One day last fall, Taylor Laughlin recalled Thursday, she was lifting weights on one side of the Planet Fitness gym when Lana Jennett had a heart attack while using a treadmill on the other side.
"I am so thankful I didn't have my headphones in that day," Laughlin told the News Tribune. "She had collapsed off the treadmill - and I heard her fall.
"When we got over there, we realized she wasn't breathing, and so we got her laid down and started compressions."
Lana Jennett's husband is Dr. Richard Jennett, a gastroenterologist and head of the Jefferson City Medical Group.
During Lincoln University's Honors Convocation, he presented Laughlin, 21, Mokane, with the "Lana Jennett Scholarship." He told the audience of students, families and friends, faculty members, staff and LU curators that Laughlin saved his wife's life by helping perform CPR.
"There's two important life lessons to it," Jennett told the Thursday honors ceremony. "The first is chance favors the prepared mind. You never know when you're going to be put in a situation where you're called upon to act heroically.
"The second life lesson is, if you do something good - it may come back to benefit you in ways that you never imagined."
Jennett noted JCMG has supported Lincoln's nursing scholarships for several years. "I never dreamed that a Lincoln nursing student would save the life of my family member," he said.
Laughlin was thankful her training just kicked-in, and she didn't stop to think about what she needed to do.
"It was just automatic," she recalled. "I honestly don't think I realized everything that was going on, or what was going on, until after it was all done."
And, she said, she was just one part of a bigger process that afternoon.
"We actually didn't get her resuscitated," Laughlin said. "She had a weak heartbeat when the emergency people got there, and they shocked her three or four times.
"I really didn't know what her shape was and how she was doing until that evening."
Laughlin said the experience made her more determined to be a nurse, either in pediatrics or oncology, after she graduates next year from LU's new four-year, bachelor's degree in nursing and science program.
She hopes to find a job with the University of Missouri health care system, where her mother has worked for nearly 30 years.
Lana Jennett also is a nurse, trained to help save lives.
Richard Jennett said the surprise for his family was "the cycle came back quicker than you think. It's sort of like if you invest in a stock, and, all of a sudden, tomorrow it's worth a thousand times more - you don't expect such a rapid, clear demonstration of the benefit of what you do."
JCMG has given its "Nursing Scholar Award" to an LU student for several years.
Spokeswoman Emily Mantle said the Jennett family hasn't indicated whether the "Lana Jennett Scholarship" was a one-time gift or will become an annual one.
But Lana Jennett helped present it Thursday.
"I just want to tell Taylor thank you," Lana said later. "I think if she hadn't been there, I wouldn't be here now."