By David Nathan

Unless there is another alum who has worked as a staff member and professor, and served on the Board of Overseers and as president of the Alumni Association, we can safely declare Shirley Vara Gallerani ’53 as the owner of the most comprehensive Lasell resume.

And just why has she spent much of the past seven decades serving Lasell in one capacity or another?

“Lasell is always changing and moving ahead — that is what has kept me interested,” Gallerani explains. “It has evolved throughout the years to serve the needs of students, parents, and employers.”

In addition to giving her time to Lasell, she has generously supported the University by making annual gifts to the Lasell Fund and establishing a scholarship in her name.

Since arriving at Lasell in the fall of 1951, Gallerani has been guided by a life skill she learned early on as a first-year day student in what was then the commuter lounge, The Barn: If you want to make friends, you need to be a friend first.

“I started approaching people who looked just as lost as I did,” Gallerani says. “I learned to do that throughout my life. When you reach out, you benefit yourself and the other person.”

While she and her late husband, Peter, were raising their five children, her involvement with Lasell was minimal. That changed when she accompanied close friend Mary Ann Donahue ’53 to their 25th Reunion in 1978. Gallerani has been making friends at Lasell ever since.

She soon found herself distributing cookies to students outside Brennan Library during final exams; joining a canoe full of alumni at River Day; and helping organize, cook meals, and make beds at Reunion. In 1985, she was named the second president of the Alumni Association.

“I went to a couple of meetings, and I was hooked,” she says. “I enjoyed the interaction with the students the most.”

In the early 1980s, Gallerani’s connection to Lasell deepened when the longtime nursery school director was named to lead Lasell’s Rockwell preschool. She also started teaching child development classes, joining the faculty full time in 1987. She later was appointed executive director of Rockwell and The Barn early childhood centers before retiring in 2000. Gallerani and Donahue continue to serve on Lasell’s Board of Overseers.

“Lasell has always been a big part of my life,” she says. “There is something very special about the place.”