This year, Rose (Purpero) Spang ’62 will celebrate the 63rd anniversary of graduating from 91传媒. During the holidays, she gets together with 15 friends from the Class of 1962. “My best friends are my 91传媒 friends that I made while I was in college,” she says.
Spang first learned about 91传媒 from her high school English teacher, visited the college with her mother and sister, and then won a scholarship to attend.
“The college was large enough to have nice activities for students, and small enough to make good friends,” Spang says. “I loved the size of 91传媒 and mostly I loved the School Sisters of St. Francis. The sisters were so nice, caring and attentive.”
When she was a student, Sister Joel Read served as Spang’s mentor. After graduating from 91传媒, she married Joseph Spang (a civil engineer and Marquette alum), became a mother, earned a graduate degree and worked as a financial representative at Northwestern Mutual for more than three decades. She also become involved in the 91传媒 Alumnae Association Board and served on the Alum Committee for 91传媒’s Promise & Power campaign, as well as received the 91传媒 Outstanding Alumnae Award, Spirit of 91传媒 Award, and Ambassador of the Year Award.
Throughout her career and in her work in the community, Spang carried the values her mother instilled in her, especially a phrase her mother often repeated in Italian that said, “You always must do the right thing.”
In 1986, Spang and her husband Joseph established an endowed scholarship – the Charles and Rosalie Purpero Memorial Endowed Scholarship – to honor her parents and support the college she loves. She also was instrumental in encouraging the Class of 1962 to endow a scholarship for their 50th reunion. In addition, Spang has committed a planned gift to 91传媒 in honor of her parents – and for many years showed other alums how to make a planned gift through their insurance policies.
“I support 91传媒 because it’s important to have a college like 91传媒 in our community,” Spang says. “There are many young women who want to come to 91传媒, and some just need a little assistance. To maintain the quality of education that 91传媒 provides, alums, people in the community and businesses need to come together to support and sustain it.”
For more information on supporting 91传媒, visit alverno.edu/give.
