UNC alumni reunite with native couple each two years –

Lauren Noser, a 2014 UNC alumna, met a Chapel Hill couple throughout her first 12 months on campus. They’ve stayed related ever since.

Noser met Stephen and Sandra Rich on a flight from Denver, Colo., to North Carolina to start her first 12 months at UNC. They struck up dialog on the aircraft, and Noser discovered that the couple lived proper on Franklin Street and ​they had been lifelong Tar Heel followers.

The couple shared their telephone quantity with Noser, hoping to be acquainted faces for her as she adjusted to a brand-new atmosphere.

Filled with the nerves and pleasure of settling into her new residence, Noser reached out to the couple — and their friendship stemmed from there. She launched Stephen and Sandra to her roommates, Julie Heideman, Jennifer Wajahn, Julianne Shea and Molly Voreacos, who additionally proceed to keep in contact with them.

Stephen graduated from UNC in 1964 with a level in accounting. Sandra transferred in her junior 12 months then went on to finish her instructing diploma in Atlanta, Ga.. The two married the summer season earlier than Stephen’s senior 12 months and Sandra’s junior 12 months.

The couple stays energetic within the Chapel Hill neighborhood. They have soccer and basketball season tickets and have been concerned in a lot of nonprofits on and off-campus. However, Stephen mentioned he and Sandra didn’t have a powerful reference to college students till they turned shut with Noser and her mates.

Noser mentioned Stephen and Sandra welcome everybody with open arms, and so they do all the things they will to be useful. They wish to make UNC really feel like residence for college kids by taking them in and serving to them have a great expertise, she mentioned.

Noser mentioned Stephen and Sandra would drive her and her roommates to the grocery retailer throughout their first 12 months as a result of they didn’t have their automobiles. During their time at UNC, the couple typically welcomed Noser and her mates into their residence for dinners and lengthy conversations, shortly turning into like household away from residence.

“Over the course of the four years there, it became something where we loved spending time and seeing them, and they did a lot for us,” Noser mentioned. “After we graduated, I called them my adopted grandparents. They’re really special people in our lives.”