Every year, Alumni Reunion Weekend brings different alumni back to reconnect with each other and with the campus. It is also an occasion for people to meet each other for the first time, whether they are from different generations of the Wagner family, or from the same class year. Here are a few stories I collected from the weekend. — Laura Barlament
It’s been a great ride,” Barbara Borman ’68 says of the 50 years since she left Wagner. Her husband was in the Navy, so she moved frequently. A nursing major, she has worked in many different contexts, from hospitals to home health. She is a sexual assault nurse examiner, educates caregivers about how to care for themselves, and travels to many countries on medical missions, including Ecuador, Haiti, Nepal, and Kenya. She goes on annual volunteer vacations with her college roommate, Ann Johansmeyer ’68, who was an English and history major, and who worked as an editor for a financial firm.
Jillian Vollentine Holt ’03 became an expert anchor painter as an AOPi member at Wagner. An elementary ed major, she earned a master’s in student development in higher education at Central Connecticut State, where she now works as the assistant dean of the School of Graduate Studies. She has taught all ages, from kindergarteners to graduate students. Her favorite Wagner memories include hanging out on the Oval on a beautiful day and sitting on the Adirondack chairs that used to be on the Union patio.
Sally Morales ’76 and John Stewart ’76 did not know each other when they were students. They met at their 40th class reunion in 2016. John subsequently invited Sally to a Yankees game. In October, they are getting married. Sally is retired from teaching elementary special education in the Bronx. John is retired from a business career. He has a daughter, Suzanne Stewart Rossi, who met her husband, Chris Rossi, when they were students at Wagner. They both later transferred to SUNY Cortland. Nevertheless, Wagner College has played matchmaker for multiple generations of this family.
Larry and Eileen Gibney ’67 Moyer and Roland and Sheres Caines ’88 Johnson met each other at Reunion Weekend and enjoyed hanging out together. The Moyers live in Boston and the Johnsons in Fairburn, Georgia, near Atlanta. When or where else would they have found this connection?
Chantal Meyenberg ’03 and Jason Pablo ’03 are best friends who met when they took a Wagner class about exploring music in NYC. Their shared memories include a trip they took to London over fall break one year — their first experience traveling abroad independently. Jason was a business major, but he returned to Wagner to earn a second degree in nursing and now is happily employed at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital. Chantal is running the operations for an environmental insurance firm.
