Campus Visit Brings Memories: John & Jody Puppolo John and Jody Puppolo met in the campus coffee shop, and they’ve been together ever since. John ’64 plans to attend his 50th reunion in June; but he loves New Hampshire in winter, so he and Jody made the five-hour drive from Kingston, N.Y., to Saint Anselm College just before Christmas. Sitting at a table in the “new” coffee shop, they reminisced about their college days. Jody (Harvey) Puppolo ’65 remembered her admission interview with Ruth Bagley, who told her that the college wanted nursing students with “brains as well as hands.” She was thrilled to be accepted; someone at the National League of Nurses in New York had told her that Saint Anselm had one of the best nursing programs in the northeast. John recalled working for NBC during the 1963 primary and meeting Henry Cabot Lodge in Concord. He takes pride in seeing the growth of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College and enjoys seeing his alma mater in the national TV spotlight during the political debate season. John, who grew up in western Massachusetts, was one of
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the pioneers of the Saint Anselm College ski team, along with friends Phil LaFrance ’63, Don O’Rourke ’63, and Pat Latour. Unfortunately, he can’t find any photos of the team. “It’s just because we were too fast,” he says. He was the team manager at first, and later joined the racers. They bought their own equipment and had one helmet that they passed around. Jody’s nursing degree took her to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, but the couple soon settled in upstate New York, where they raised their children and became a skiing family. After John retired from a 27-year career at IBM and Jody retired from public health nursing, they became ski patrollers and officers in the National Ski Patrol system. They have albums filled with photos from Steamboat Springs, Squaw Valley, and all the New England and New York ski areas. The years John and Jody Puppolo spent at Saint Anselm College are special to them as the place that led them to their careers and their family, and the place where lasting friendships began. Nearly 50 years after, they are among the school’s most loyal alumni.