There was no mistaking Jacqueline Fennell ’06 when you were in a room with her. Her quaking laughter and spirited song were her calling cards.
Fennell died April 29, 2025, after a yearslong battle with breast cancer. She was 40.
“It’s just so quiet around here lately,” says Damon Fennell, her husband. “Her force, her soul, her voice and her laughter, it’s something I truly miss.”
Jacqueline worked at NC State for 19 years, her first 13 years as an Alumni Association membership and retention specialist and her final six in the Division of Academic and Student Affairs, where she was most recently assistant director of donor relations. Her colleagues can still hear the whistle she would blow as a signal to start a train of people walking fitness laps around the third floor of Park Alumni Center. Her laugh was unmistakable, building low inside her and working its way up to a sonic boom of delight. Once she started, she couldn’t stop, so much so, her co-workers and family knew her as “Cacklin’ Jacqueline.” “I just feel like if I just hear that laugh one more time, or see that smile, I would just be overjoyed,” says Damon.
“Her force, her soul, her voice and her laughter, it’s something I truly miss.”
— Damon Fennell
Damon remembers the songs that she would exuberantly sing around their house, mostly gospel and R&B. Jazmine Sullivan was her favorite. Jacqueline was also a member of New Horizons Choir during her time at NC State. “Singing gave her a great deal of joy, like a feeling of her inner smile,” he says.
Her smile and songs were representative of Jacqueline’s giving nature, also seen in her service at places like the NC State Women’s Center. She was always dedicated to helping her university colleagues, whom she very much considered family.
“I was definitely her number one,” Damon says. “But NC State, it’s a very close second. She loved NC State.”
To celebrate her legacy and commitment to ensuring student success, NC State has established the Jacqueline Elyce Fennell Memorial TRIO Fund, which will offer support for students in the university’s TRIO programs.
