From the January 2011 issue of Our Moment, the UConn Foundation's e-newsletter.
The warm memories Joan and Richard Fenton have of their UConn days were expanded recently upon a visit to campus. They were traveling with a person who was unable to walk any distance without help as they were riding the campus shuttle late one evening. As they stepped off the shuttle at their destination, the driver, a student, said to the group, “I’ll be back to pick you up later.”
Joan Fenton’s eyes widen with amazement as she tells the story. “And she brought the bus back to get us, even though it was late and I’m sure she was off work for the night,” she says. “She made such an effort.”
More than memories, more than gratitude, the congeniality and helpfulness of UConn students have lured the Fentons back to their alma mater. They have become involved in UConn in a number of ways, including creating a scholarship at the UConn Foundation to help students majoring in family studies.
“We’re proud of everything UConn has done,” says Richard ’60, ‘61, who taught Economics for many years at the State University of New York at Brockport. “But coming back and meeting the students had a profound impact on us.”
The Fentons vividly remember their days at UConn, joining their respective fraternities and sororities, seeing the Kingston Trio at the Jorgensen, dancing at campus ROTC events, gliding through Winter Carnival. They met and fell in love in high school, attended the Greater Hartford branch campus, then moved out to Storrs to complete their bachelor’s degrees.
Richard Fenton majored in economics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UConn, and earned his master’s here, too. He entered the Army, and once back home, began a teaching career, staying at Brockport for 41 years. Joan Fenton ‘60, who was, her husband says, “the smart one,” graduated as a University scholar, and taught for a year in a nursery school that is part of what is now the Human Development and Family Studies program. She went on to earn her master’s degree in Education from SUNY College of Brockport in 1979 and a reading certification that marked her as a specialist.
They were always proud of their UConn affiliation. They’re even prouder now that they have come to know some of today’s students. Says Joan, “Every student we have met has left a positive impression.”
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