By Jilleen Barrett, Managing Editor/Features Editor
Love was in the air on Feb. 14th, when roses were being sold by Delta Kappa Epsilon and friends were gifting each other with little candy hearts. Some Jaspers will meet the love of their life on this campus, like many alumni have.
Vincent and Dana Terrone are a perfect example of this. The Terrone’s, who graduated in 2016 and 2018 respectively, met during a meeting for the American Society for Civil Engineers in 2015 when Vincent gave Dana his business card and told her to reach out.
“A few weeks later, Dana reached [out] and later ended up on countless Locke’s dates, O’Malley study sessions, and hangouts at An Beal [Bocht] with our friends,” the couple told The Quadrangle over email.
The Terrone’s described what a modern MC romance was like pre-COVID, when they would meet up on campus or spend time in the chapel together when Dana was a sacristan and Vincent was a member of the choir.
“We enjoyed taking part in all the campus activities Manhattan College had to offer,” they said. “We also tried to take advantage of all the discounted events in NYC with friends which was a lot of fun. We also enjoyed participating in weekly mass together.”
Off campus, the couple prepared for their life in Texas together. Vincent moved there for a job upon graduation and Dana joined him two years later.
“Usually stayed around Manhattan and enjoyed the local bars,” they wrote. “Once in a while we would go to Johnny Utah’s in the city which was a fun time! It helped us get ready for the move to Texas!”
Although they didn’t expect to find permanent love at Manhattan, Dana describes herself as a “hopeless romantic” while Vincent stated he “always hoped that [he] would meet someone special in college like [his] parents did.”
The couple ended up being the subject of a @manhattanedu Valentine’s Day Instagram post in 2021, and in Jan. 2022, they had a baby girl named Emory Francesca Terrone.
Their story is not dissimilar to that of Sean and Jean (better known by her peers as Michelle) James, who graduated in the class of 1996 with degrees in business administration and elementary education, respectively. Both of them returned to the college for additional degrees in later years.
The couple met in 1992 as first-semester freshmen when a mutual friend introduced the former track & field runner to his future wife.
“It was our freshman year at the school,” Michelle said. “And one day a few of us as freshmen was sort of hanging out in East Hill [now known as Lee Hall] where he lived, and we ended up staying there late and he walked me back to Chrysostom and we ended up staying in the common area lounge area … until wee hours of the morning, connecting with each other and talking about like my life and his life. And that’s where it started.”
The pair have been together ever since that night.
“Sean and I have never broken up,” Michelle said. “So that’s another little trivial thing, I guess that’s cute. Whether it was from the four years that we were in college and even till after, but during the almost 30 years that we’ve been together, we’ve never broken up and we’ve just always been consistent.”
The couple stated their best advice to building a serious relationship is to communicate, something they seem to find easy to do to this day.
“We spend hours just talking and laughing so I guess that’s what makes us such good friends,” she said.
Sean says the most important thing for college students to remember in a relationship is to appreciate the time you have with them.
“Enjoy the time, the moment … focus on the long term, but just live in the moment and enjoy each other,” Sean said.
Sean and Michelle got married in 1999 and had three children: Alixandria, Luke and Tyson. Alixandria James is currently a junior public health major at the college her parents spoke so fondly of as she grew up.
“I loved the experience,” Michelle said. “It was a great four years … I loved everything about it.”